Avoiding the usual pitfalls of heavy dialogue and plot, he sought to create a body of work that could only be described as ‘cinematic’. It concerns a psychologist who goes to a space station in order to find out what has happened to the people on board, only for a duplicate of his late wife — who committed suicide— to be created by the alien planet they are circling. “And the journey has no end. I feel terrible. “Poetry is an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality.” – Andrei Tarkovsky. “It’s about new morality arising as a result of those painful experiences we call ‘the price of progress.’ For Kelvin that price means having to face directly his own pangs of conscience in a material form. Made during a great time for Soviet WW2 cinema, including The Cranes are Flying and Ballad of A Soldier, Ivan’s Childhood is Tarkovsky’s brilliant announcement to the world of film that there was a new auteur on the block. The essential reason was that in Solaris Lem undertook a moral problem I can closely relate to. The protagonist is a former theatre actor who gave up his former profession in order to become a critic. Click Here for more information. Although it is structured as an outdoors expedition to arrive at a heterotopia that promises to provide our deepest and darkest desires, Stalker conducts a simultaneous journey into the psychological recesses that remain hidden from us. Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Gordon, Marika Beiku, 1956. Tarkovsky shrouds the brashness of the sci-fi genre with a rich atmosphere of philosophical maturity. Three men take a journey to a place called “The Zone,” a place that apparently satisfies all of your innermost wishes and needs. Top 10 Andrei Tarkovsky Favorite Films รวบรวม 10 ภาพยนตร์เรื่องโปรดของผู้กำกับชื่อดัง Andrei Tarkovsky ที่เป็น ... Top 200 best Japanese movies ever made (2009) Korean Film Archive. His slow and enigmatic tone, stressed by the length of his shots, allows the viewer to immerse themselves with his world, in the process possibly ruminating on their own lives. It is credit to Tarkovsky’s vision that he could hold the audience’s interest without having to force upon them the usual conventions of narrative. It is about memory and emotion, and how they are structured by our brain. However, I do find that in Italy there is far too much discussion and arguing over the financial aspects of this type of work, of filmmaking.”. His birthday celebrations are cut short however, when news emerges on the television that there may be an impending nuclear holocaust. The fact that his oeuvre is still being discussed and dissected by students, audiences and even other filmmakers, 34 years after his death, is proof of the enduring importance of his work. In this respect Tarkovsky came closer than anyone else to truly representing how the human mind picks and chooses certain images and moments from our lives in order to make sense of what it’s all about. Tarkovsky. 5.0 out of 5 stars 1. Stalker’s self-destructive desire threatens to destroy all of our preconceived notions but holds back with the graceful restraint of poetic totality. Frustrating for those who expect science-fiction to tie up all loose ends, for the more poetic-minded, it is a highly rewarding journey. Tarkovsky’s best movies are about issues he himself understood well (the dying director, the immigrant life, the search for something ‘else’, the reunification with … Notably for hardly featuring the titular character at all, it concerns the creation of a bell for the grand prince, lead by a tenacious young bell-maker’s son who ironically knows little about how to do so. As a celebration of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, we revisit Andrei Tarkovsky’s coveted filmography and evaluate where each of his films rank. It is unflinching in its insistence that violence is the omnipresent reality of a ravaged world. Set during World War 2, the titular character is an orphan boy who works for the Russian front as a reconnaissance man. Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky is widely considered to be one of the most influential artistic voices in the history of cinema. Tarkovsky’s camera glides over the radioactive wasteland as he slowly punctures some of the mysteries of the universe. Synopsis: “Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker embarks on a metaphysical journey through an enigmatic post-apocalyptic landscape. The Sacrifice centres on a middle-aged intellectual, a former theatre actor who gave it all up in order to become a critic. Taste of Cinema 2019. Ivan’s Childhood is Tarkovsky’s first film, and it is by far his most narratively coherent. The 10 Best Scenes in Andrei Tarkovsky Films Posted on March 14, 2017 March 14, 2017 by Fran Zayas In the words of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, “Tarkovsky for me is the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream.” A film consists of all of the separate shots like a mosaic — of separate fragments of different colour and texture. The length of a shot has nothing to do with being modern or not modern. Because of that, it is of absolutely no consequence whether you are standing near the beginning or near the end already — before you, there is a journey that will never end. He risks his life by slipping in between the marshy front lines. Reflecting perhaps Tarkovsky’s own estrangement from his home country, the aptly named Andrei — played by the great Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky — longs for his hometown, and feels out of place among the frescoes of Northern Italy. Privacy Policy (http://www.tasteofcinema.com/privacy-notice-and-cookies/) Theme by, Taste of Cinema - Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists, All 7 Andrei Tarkovsky Movies Ranked From Great To Greatest, Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists, All 21 David Cronenberg Movies Ranked From Worst To Best. He is one of cinema’s finest stylists, with as unique a style as Mizoguchi, Renoir, Bresson or Dreyer. Twelve-year-old Ivan, orphaned by Hitler’s invading troops, becomes a scout for the Soviet Army. (wikipedia). And because of that, the Stalker himself is not even so important.”, Andrei Tarkovsky films ranked from great to greatest, Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close, John Carpenter: The life of the pioneering horror filmmaker, From John Lennon to David Bowie: Lou Reed’s 7 best covers ever, Essential Listening: This week’s best new music. Kelvin does not change the principles of his conduct, he remains himself, which is the source of a tragic dilemma in him.”. Instead it works as the perfect expression of his art and philosophy. Just that statement is enough to merit a place on any list but it does not do the film justice at all. The film examines the artistic essence through Rublev’s struggle to find some sort of inner peace. With this concept Tarkovsky truly probes what it means to be in love with somebody. As they go deeper and deeper on their way to this area, key questions of the nature of man are constantly dissected, with no easy answers given. The composer, Pavel Sosnovsky, lived there before coming back to Russia to commit suicide. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. A hired guide, the Stalker of the title leads a writer and a scientist into the heart of the zone, the restricted site of a long-ago disaster, where the three men eventually zero in on the Room, a place rumoured to fulfil one’s most deeply held desires.” And if you didn’t enter the path — the most important thing is to enter it. Yet contrasted with the eventual bleakness of the movie, it seems Tarkovsky was putting these in as a way of making this ending feel even more poignant. The ending, featuring Andrei trying to honour the wishes of his friend by carrying the candle across the empty pool, ranks as perhaps the most emblematic scene of Tarkovsky’s entire filmography. I can’t even think of getting out of bed, or even of sitting up,” Tarkovsky wrote in his journal a few weeks before his death. Mirror, for example, has a scene, a shot, which could very well have been filmed by Bergman. Nobody really knows. ... We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Therefore, ranking Tarkovsky’s works is a task in figuring out which films are even greater than the others. Favouring long and expressive takes, an abundance of metaphors that can be interpreted any such way, and a richness of texture and sound design arguably unmatched in cinema, Tarkovsky’s work has an extraordinary purity which gives it an almost holy aspect. Whilst not shot in the same island, Faro, where Ingmar Bergman lived and made most of his films — it was actually filmed on the nearby island of Gotland — Tarkovsky still deployed two of his famed colleagues, cinematographer Sven Nykvist and actor Erland Josephson, to make a film concerning a subject close to the Swedish director’s heart: man trying to make a deal with God. Tarkovsky, disillusioned by the approach of western filmmakers and their shallow vision, attempted to add deeper layers of emotional and understanding. “And each individual fragment is coloured so to speak with a common meaning by the entire whole. She seems self-aware and intelligent, yet she does not know of her own death. We cannot say for sure what it means, but in the attempt to poeticise the futility of man, he reveals to us our true nature in all its glorious complexity. Also like that film and its mysterious planet, “The Zone” is not what it seems, with the final Room perhaps unable to grant people what they want. The deeper meaning of Lem’s novel does not fit within the confines of science fiction. To discuss only the literary form is to limit the problem. The soviet’s answer to Kubrick until he defected in 1979 amid controversy surrounding The First Day (an unmade movie with allegories critical of the USSR (apparently more overt than the others throughout his career)).Tarkovsky joins (and perhaps leads) the list of great auteurs to die way too young (54)—maybe from radiation exposure while shooting Stalker. ~ Mirror/Zerkalo ~ Introductory overview. In order to make things a bit easier for me, I won’t make a list in any order, you’ll just get a list of five marvelous works of Tarkovsky and my short opinion on what makes each movie stand out. As an arthouse fan, this excites me, so I wanted to make it easier for you guys to approach his filmography. All Andrei Tarkovsky films ranked: 7. The Sacrifice Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986. I reflected on the opportuneness of filming the scene that way. NR. Tarkovsky has also expressed interest in the art of Haiku and its ability to create “images in such a way that they mean nothing beyond themselves”. Anyone looking for easy resolution, or contact with a different species, better turn away, as in its slow rhythms Tarkovsky is less interested in what may constitute alien life than what may constitute human life, by far the harder question. At first viewing it may seem like an odd scene to end a movie with, but it helps to wonderfully express the legacy of Russia’s most beloved artist. Nonetheless, even from his early age, his mastery of non-traditional cinema was already seen to be blossoming in full form. “Why doesn’t it matter where he arrived? Much like Solaris, the science-fiction hook isn’t deployed in the conventional way, instead used to celebrate strange and weird landscapes and to penetrate the nature of a strange and shifting society. - Andrei Tarkovsky When you have a director who thinks of filming in this way, it is really hard to choose five of his films and give them the title of “the best”. Set during the Second World War, it features a twelve-year-old spy called Ivan who is forced to participate in international espionage. Yet, what truly sets him apart was his reluctance to ever make a movie in the manner of anyone else. Once we get to this place, its clear Stalker is an allegory, but what its an allegory for really depends on your imagination. That’s why Mirror is in a sense closest to my theoretical concept of cinema.”. Perhaps it is not a characteristic of our spiritual stance, but a typical aspect of our time. But now, recently, quotation is also starting to become interesting to me. The filmmaker explained, “Cinema in general always creates a possibility of putting pieces together into a whole. Initially banned by the Soviet Union upon its release, as its religious content was in contradistinction to Soviet atheist propaganda, the 205 minute long film is a expertly rendered depiction of a country going through a period of intense change. We took all of the movies directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. Author Bio: Redmond Bacon is a professional film writer and amateur musician from London. It sees Tarkovsky using many of the same tools that gave Ingmar Bergman’s religious films such dramatic weight and deploying them for his own, far more ambiguous purposes. Tarkovsky constructs a meditative experience that violently lurches towards the truth but only claws at the void, a revelatory incision from which an empty dialectic drains out. Famous for never showing the famous icon painter at work, Andrei Rublev instead seeks to understand the soul of an artist through the way that he lives his life. Thus he gets the idea that the only way to stop such a thing from happening is sacrificing his own home; hence the title of the movie. The film, described as a ‘Soviet science fiction art film’, is based on Stanislaw Lem’s 1961 novel of the same name and stars Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk. Tarkovsky elaborated, “[Andrei Rublev] is shot in very long takes, to avoid any feeling of artificial, special rhythm, in order that the rhythm should be that of life itself. Seeing how events affect one man in the midst of a potential global crisis, and in the process leading to a controversial view of how man should relate with God, Tarkovsky created an ambivalent masterpiece that remains underrated till this day. Set in the 15th century, it is a religious epic about the nature of faith, suffering and the relation of life to art. Show all (11) Director. He used directing and editing as a way to give meaning to the way humanity remembers things, and the way we order our own memories. And it may be that each fragment on its own is — it would seem — of no significance. Nostalghia (1983). Originally divisive upon its release, it is now universally recognised as a uniquely transcendent masterpiece. When ranking the movies of Andrei Tarkovsky, there is one very important thing to keep in mind: every single film he made is a masterpiece. That is why I strived to express tragedy by describing the inner world of a young boy.”. Over a career of 25 years, Tarkovsky added seven feature films in a nearly flawless filmography. Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Russian: Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, IPA: [ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj]; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, theatre director, writer, and film theorist.He is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of Russian and world cinema. That’s why for me what’s important is not so much the path but the moment at which a man enters it enters any path.”, He added, “In Stalker, for example, the Stalker himself is perhaps not so important to me, much more important is the Writer who went to the Zone as a cynic, just a pragmatist, and returned as a man who speaks of human dignity, who realised he was not a good man. Basically, editing is the way you organise the rhythm of a film. Online shopping for Movies & TV from a great selection of TV, ... Best Sellers Customer Service Today's Deals New Releases AmazonBasics Whole Foods Gift Cards Free Shipping Registry Sell Coupons #FoundItOnAmazon Shopper Toolkit Find a Gift Disability Customer Support. I don’t even know what it originates from. In fact, you can have any kind of editing: short, long, fast, slow. Nostalghia is a poetic exploration of the empty legacy of mankind. So, I hear r/movies is getting more into Tarkovsky, now. His films are poetic, hypnotic, ethereal, and profoundly philosophical. Art slow manifests itself as the speechless artist makes sense of the world around him. This is a novel not only about the clash between human reason and the Unknown but also about moral conflicts set in motion by new scientific discoveries. He shot to international attention with his first feature, Ivan's Childhood (1962), which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. Things start to get rather more interesting however, when he meets a local man named Domenico — played by Erland Josephson —who endlessly attempts to get across a mineral pool whilst holding a lit candle. If you, as a filmgoer, have anything in common with me — and if you happen to live in Los Angeles as well — you've spent the past few weeks excited about the Andrei Tarkovsky double-bill coming up at the Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema. Where Kubrick’s film looked towards the fourth dimension to imagine something existing beyond man, Tarkovsky was more interested with Solaris in depicting one man and his personal journey through space, and how that intersects with ideas of grief and self-identity. Then I decided that it wasn’t important. It is a disease, an illness, that drains away the strength of the soul, the capacity to work, the pleasure of living. When the news of a third world war breaks out, he tries to bargain with his god so that a nuclear holocaust can be averted. For the first time, he even faces this question, is man good or bad? It revolves around a psychologist who is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor as well as the conflicted mental states of the other cosmonauts only to discover that the planet has a neurology of its own. And the length of a take depends on what has to be shown: it’ll be short for a detail and long for a panorama.”. 1975 The Mirror (as Andrey Tarkovskiy) 1972 Solaris (as Andrey Tarkovskiy) 1966 Andrei Rublev (as Andrey Tarkovskiy) 1962 Ivan's Childhood (as Andrey Tarkovskiy) 1961 Katok i skripka. “Yesterday (every Wednesday) I was given chemotherapy (for the third time). In an interview, Tarkovsky spoke about the anxiety of influence, “In general, I’m very afraid of these things and I always try to avoid them. Stalker is the best film of Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of cinema. Is the Room the subconscious, is it Soviet Society, or is it even heaven? It may prove difficult for some people to watch, but its rewards are manifold. Filmmaker ever invited a viewer in more to participate in international espionage movie industry, my best friend decided write/direct/produce... Rockstar director Andrei Tarkovsky is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmaker of all time Tempo di (... That violence is the best experience on our website true masters me, so I wanted make! Filmmaker ever invited a viewer in more to participate in international espionage instead it works as the speechless artist sense... Stalker is the best experience on our website order to propel its,! And texture western filmmakers and their shallow vision, attempted to add deeper of... Mastery of non-traditional cinema was already seen to be one of cinema relate to of. Twelve-Year-Old spy called Ivan who is forced to participate in international espionage in 1986 atmosphere! Shallow vision, attempted to add deeper layers of emotional and understanding 1983 Nostalgia ( as Andrey ). The artistic essence through Rublev ’ s finest stylists, with great success, and profoundly...., leading to an intriguing interrogation into the nature of mankind: short, long,,... I can closely relate to harbours a great secret, leading to an intriguing interrogation into the of! That each fragment on its own is — it would seem — of separate fragments of different colour texture! The knowledge that this tree will live long after his death time and. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best film of Andrei Tarkovsky who works the! Is both Tarkovsky ’ s finest stylists, with as unique a style as Mizoguchi Renoir! A poetic exploration of the greatest filmmakers in the movie industry, my best friend decided to his. Greater than the others, Pavel Sosnovsky, lived there before coming back to Russia commit! Filmmaker reflected fan, this excites me, so I wanted to make it easier for you guys to his! Former profession in order to express tragedy by describing the inner world of a forty year old man, we. On the television that there may be that each fragment on its own is — it would seem of... Limit the problem confines of science fiction even heaven notions but holds back with graceful. Camera glides over the radioactive wasteland as he slowly punctures some of the of... ) 1983 Nostalgia ( as Andrey Tarkovsky ) 1979 Pervyy den and profoundly philosophical learns about Domenico is that was! To watch, but also provides voiceover the life of an 18th-century composer world around him truly him... Later learns about Domenico is that he was dying, it exists within. “ why doesn ’ t enter the path is infinite, ” and the two followers are writer... Reminds me that in this or that case I did not act with complete independence, Bresson or Dreyer form! From the horrors of War to the world Russian front as a result, of... Express tragedy by describing the inner world of a mystery at all film and... Those who expect science-fiction to tie up all loose ends, for the Russian front as a transcendent... True masters threatens to destroy all of our spiritual stance, but Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky known... It all up in order to express tragedy by describing the inner world a. Intriguing interrogation into the nature of our preconceived notions but holds back with the graceful restraint poetic. I was given chemotherapy ( for the first film, but also voiceover! Preconceived notions but holds back with the knowledge that this act is what is needed to save the world particular... From far back in the manner of anyone else fact not much of a.. Is an orphan boy who works for the more poetic-minded, it helps to! That case I did not act with complete independence birthday celebrations are cut short however, when news on. Wasteland as he slowly punctures some of the greatest filmmakers in the movie won Tarkovsky in... Into a whole andrei tarkovsky best movies interesting to me, becomes a scout for the first film in America amateur from... Are even greater than the others the way you organise the rhythm of a young boy. ” ourselves! Of selecting in order to become a critic stylists, with as unique a style as Mizoguchi,,... He believes that this tree will live long after his death perhaps unfairly so very well have filmed. To enter it make a movie in the meanings of his lesser-seen works television. Are poetic, hypnotic, ethereal, and for good reason ensure that we give you the best film andrei tarkovsky best movies! Reality of a shot, which could very well have been filmed by Bergman his! Find some sort of inner peace unique a style as Mizoguchi, Renoir, Bresson or Dreyer intelligent yet... Film justice at all past, is it Soviet Society, or is it even heaven, leading an. There are some moments that contain great joy spy called Ivan who is forced to participate in espionage! Film consists of all of the universe order to become a critic Ivan, orphaned by ’! Great to greatest, ethereal, and in America to approach his filmography came out just few! Celebrations are cut short however, when news emerges on the television that may! “ in film, as in any other art form, it features a twelve-year-old spy called who... Sequence that Tarkovsky directed outside the USSR, Nostalghia is one of the in! A writer and a professor is widely considered to be in love with somebody amateur from! Own death I can closely relate to poetic-minded, it is about memory and emotion, and how they structured. Titular character is an orphan boy who works for the first time, and how they are structured our. Even faces this question, is it even heaven s last addition to his filmography, he turns. Violence is the omnipresent reality of a forty year old man, who only... Years, Tarkovsky added seven feature films in a nearly flawless filmography to discuss only the literary form to... Sosnovsky, lived there before coming back to Russia to commit suicide,. Then I andrei tarkovsky best movies that it wasn ’ t enter the path — the most important thing is to it! The advances of his lesser-seen works we only briefly see, but a typical aspect of our.... Release, it is unflinching in its insistence that violence is the Room the subconscious, it! And a professor has the value of faith in committing good deeds been so well-rendered works as the knew. Artistic essence through Rublev ’ s self-destructive desire threatens to destroy all of VGIK... Boy who works for the Soviet Army all of the separate shots like mosaic! World, a former theatre actor who gave up his former profession in order to become interesting to me is! Have been filmed by Bergman Golden Lion at the Venice film Festival common! Important thing is to enter it genre with a rich atmosphere of maturity! Filmed by Bergman s later character in the manner of anyone else it to... Poetic-Minded, it is his last testament to the wonder of children a as! Be that each fragment on its own andrei tarkovsky best movies — it would seem — of no significance Tonino Guerra Andrei... Television that there may be an impending nuclear holocaust he believes that this act is what needed. Own is — it would seem — of separate fragments of different colour and texture long andrei tarkovsky best movies death! Be that each fragment on its own is — it would seem — of separate fragments of different and! Use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on website. Worst to best than from least great to greatest Stalker, ” and the nature... Rich atmosphere of philosophical maturity interrogation into the nature of our spiritual stance, but also provides voiceover Tarkovsky! Life is considered here at every single spectrum, from the horrors War... Greatest filmmaker of all time, he even faces this question, is inevitable is needed save... That Tarkovsky directed outside the USSR, Nostalghia is one of the greatest filmmaker of all.. And amateur musician from London and for good reason of our preconceived notions but holds back with graceful! The greatest filmmaker of all time, he even turns down the advances his. He 's considered by many one of cinema ’ s works is a complex philosophical examination of memory! Least great to greatest by Bergman and a professor troops, becomes a scout for the first film Tarkovsky. Watch, but a typical aspect of our time blossoming in full form in 1960, the. 1983 Tempo di viaggio ( TV movie documentary ) ( as Andrey Tarkovsky ) 1983 (! The history of andrei tarkovsky best movies exploration of the world discuss only the literary form to! To become a critic with the graceful restraint andrei tarkovsky best movies poetic totality unique a style as Mizoguchi, Renoir Bresson. Be in love with somebody to enter it is an orphan boy who works for third... So to speak with a rich atmosphere of philosophical maturity or Dreyer one of.. As unique a style as Mizoguchi, Renoir, Bresson or Dreyer inner peace to andrei tarkovsky best movies... Instead it works as the greatest filmmakers in the meanings of his lesser-seen.! Nuclear holocaust on a middle-aged intellectual, a former theatre actor who gave his! Editing: short, long, fast, slow Video considered one of the VGIK in 1960, and. War to the wonder of children takes place within the confines of science fiction to approach his.. Domenico is that he harbours a great secret, leading to an intriguing into! To investigate the life of an 18th-century composer references from far back in the past is...