Upon finishing Tarkovsky's last film "the Sacrifice" I cried those funny happy tears, the source of which were a mystery to me. In fact most of Tarkovsky's films often ended on a simliar note for me, especially in the realm of mystery - the sense of intuitive understanding as yet unstirred by the intellect, remaining hidden like a great secret. This resulting feeling was in fact the thing that kept me coming back to Tarkovsky's films. Now, I see how his films are so much like myths or fairy tales, and of course dreams. Ladened with powerful symbolism and archetypal conflicts his films have the power to communicate emotional and existential truths on an intuitive level, while still veiled in the shroud of secret hidden meanings and psychologically charged but opaque symbols.
The beauty of it all is that whence the intellect does stir and we do try to interpret Tarkovsky's work, a picture so rich and luminous develops it reminds me of the feeling which brought on the mysterious tears in the first place. It seems to spring from the same source - that is the intellectual understanding and the emotional experience. And the presence of both only enriches one another.
The article Zarathustra's Gift in Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice, does a great job of introducing some of the fundamental issues the director dealt with through out his career. Gino Moliterno also has 100% more interesting things to say about the film than I do. It's worth a read.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr0301/gmfr12a.htm
Friday, August 24, 2007
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1 comment:
I have not seen Stalker in several years, but it remains one of my favorite films. No one else has the unique ability to prolong shots with such gravity and desperation. Never in this film did the long pauses, the time theory, feel esoteric. What a brilliant director.
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