Quote:
The opening scene is a single shot showing a family and their dog descending a hill, a large tree in the foreground, the distant countryside vanishing into the rolling fog. The camera pushes in imperceptibly, but continuously from the beginning. On the soundtrack, possibly diegetic, a sole woman sings. Meanwhile, the film credits scroll up over the scene. The family and dog, upon reaching the area in front of a hut, stop moving. Verdi’s Messa da Requiem fades in, overlapping for a brief moment with the woman singing. Once the foreground tree fully disappears, the scene freezes; the credits continue until the title appears, and the scene fades to black. The Requiem continues an audible transition to the second scene.Read More »
Andrei Tarkovsky
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Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalghia AKA Nostalgia (1983)
1981-1990Andrei TarkovskyArthouseDramaRussia -
Andrei Tarkovsky & Tonino Guerra – Tempo di viaggio aka Voyage in Time aka Travelling Time (1983)
1981-1990Andrei TarkovskyDocumentaryItalyQuote:
Just like the Russian poet of the film 1983 ‘Nosthalgia’, who, accompanied by his Italian guide and translator, traveled through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer, Andrey Tarkovskiy, accompanied by his Italian scriptwriter, Tonino Guerra, travels through Italy in order to find the locations for their common filmed effort. During this journey, Guerra constantly induces Tarkovskyi to reflect on his work and on his past as a filmmaker and a poet. The result will be ‘Nostalghia’, a masterpieceRead More » -
Andrei Tarkovsky – Andrey Rublyov (1966) DVD
Arthouse1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtAndrei TarkovskyEpicUSSRPresented as a tableaux of seven sections in black and white, with a final montage of Rublev’s painted icons in color, the film takes an unflinching gaze at medieval Russia during the first quarter of the 15th century, a period of Mongol-Tartar invasion and growing Christian influence.
Commissioned to paint the interior of the Vladimir cathedral, Andrei Rublev (Anatoli Solonitsyn) leaves the Andronnikov monastery with an entourage of monks and assistants, witnessing in his travels the degradations befalling his fellow Russians, including pillage, oppression from tyrants and Mongols, torture, rape, and plague. Faced with the brutalities of the world outside the religious enclave, Rublev’s faith is shaken, prompting him to question the uses or even possibility of art in a degraded world. After Mongols sack the city of Vladimir, burning the very cathedral that he has been commissioned to paint, Rublev takes a vow of silence and withdraws completely, removing himself to the hermetic confines of the monastery.Read More »
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Andrei Tarkovsky – Archives Cinéma Andrei Tarkovsky (1989)
1981-1990Andrei TarkovskyBooksRussiaQuote:
“Positif” a publié le premier entretien avec Tarkovski en France. Cette anthologie de textes parus dan la revue rassemble études, critiques, entretiens avec le cinéaste et témoignages de ses collaborateurs. Elle est illustrée de 70 photographies.Read More » -
Andrei Tarkovsky – Katok i skripka AKA The Steamroller and the Violin (1961)
Arthouse1961-1970Andrei TarkovskyShort FilmUSSRSynopsis:
Seven year old Sasha practices violin every day to satisfy the ambition of his parents. Already withdrawn as a result of his routines, Sasha quickly regains confidence when he accidentally meets and befriends worker Sergei, who works on a steamroller in their upscale Moscow neighborhood.Read More » -
Andrei Tarkovsky – Offret (1986)
1981-1990Andrei TarkovskyArthouseDramaSwedenUSSRThe Sacrifice, director Andrei Tarkovsky’s final film, begins in Bergmanesque fashion on a small, remote island, where friends and family gather for drama critic Alexander’s (Erland Josephson) birthday celebration.
The revelry is interrupted by a radio announcement: World War III has begun, and Mankind is only hours away from utter annihilation. Each of the guests reacts differently to the news: the most dramatic response is Alexander’s, who promises God that he’ll give up everything he holds dear – including his beloved 6-year-old son – if war is averted. Allan Edwall, a local mailman with purported mystical powers, offers to intervene with the Creator on Josephson’s behalf.Read More »
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Ebbo Demant – Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Zeit. Andrej Tarkowskijs Exil und Tod aka The Exile and Death of Andrei Tarkovsky (1988)
1981-1990ArthouseDocumentaryEbbo DemantGermanyDescription:
Documentary on the final years in the life of director Andrej Tarkovsky, who died in 1986, including his exile in Western Europe. The film shows the degree to which the themes of his films, NOSTALGHIA and the SACRIFICE almost literally came to encapsulate the director’s own life and death.Read More » -
Andrei Tarkovsky – The Passion according to Andrei AKA Andrei Rublev (1966)
1961-1970Andrei TarkovskyArthouseDramaUSSRSynopsis
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.Read More » -
Andrei Tarkovsky – Solyaris (1972)
1971-1980Andrei TarkovskyArthouseSci-FiUSSRQuote:
One of the most frequent charges against science-fiction is that it replaces emotion with intellect. Its characters are people who live by and for the mind, and their personal relationships are likely to be stifled and awkward, That’s probably true enough of most s-f novels (although exceptions range from Fredric Brown’s “The Lights in the Sky are Stars” to a lot of the work by Theodore Sturgeon), but it’s even more true of science-fiction movies.Read More »