I watched STALKER (1979) so you don't have to | Tarkovsky film reaction & commentary
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- Опубліковано 2 бер 2021
- On Wednesdays, we watch Tarkovsky.
Stalker is a Russian sci-fi film by one of the world's great directors. It is considered by many one of the greatest films ever made. I have had my troubles with watching Andrei Tarkovsky films in the past, let's see how I do with this one.
A movie about desire, about conservation, about man's relationship with nature and faith, the unfamiliar and the absurd. It is a quest film and a journey into the darkness of men's hearts. A meeting of words and science and belief. And one of the simplest depictions of a complex father/daughter relationship you'll ever see in a movie.
The movie was actually filmed in an abandoned nuclear plant, and health conditions in the locations were so bad it is suggested that Tarkovsky and many of the crew became chronically (and terminally) ill as a result. Many people also compare the desolate and perhaps post-nuclear atmosphere as predictive of the eventual Chernobyl disaster.
Available in the Criterion Collection.
Intro music: • Video
Outro: • Video
(Please note these are impressions from first time viewings, unless otherwise stated. If my points come across ill-constructed, inane, or otherwise unconvincing, muh bad bruh.) - Фільми й анімація
only commented because i recognized Funeral Music for Queen Mary in the background of your thoughts after the film. Absolutely beautfiul!
It's considered SciFi but I always saw it as a religious parable.
As a teen-ager I once went to see a Tarkovsky showing and watched this, Zerkalo and Solaris. Beer tasted really good when I sat down with my friend to talk about that experience afterwards.
Just your avg 8 hour day of Tarkovsky 😂
@@pillboxmovies there are some moviegoing experiences that stay with you. Another one was when I saw Salo by Pasolini in the cinema for the first time, my 20 year old brain was really not ready for that because, well, that was... something.
Loved this movie. Watched it, am almost done reading the book Roadside Picnic (which I'm surprised Tarkovsky managed to make an art-house film out of), just started playing the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and watched the trailer for the canceled AMC trailer for Roadside Picnic (which did not look good at all).
I had no idea there was a canceled series 🤣
Thank you very much for your excellent reaction and analysis, particularly at the end. I think this film is quite exceptional in that it accomplishes so much and so little. The vast majority of the film is three men talking and walking through, what is essentially, an industrial waste dump. However the pacing, dialogue, sound, cinematography and editing are what makes the experience in the zone truly magical.
13:40 Get in the Zone, Shinji.
Oh, but i have to. Have to many times, because it's wonderful. I love Tarkovsky.
Just found this channel and subbed! Love that you talk about composition and trends of style among the director’s own films, and of others.
Thank you so much for subbing! It's a lotta work, a lotta fun, and wayyy too many hours of sleep lost
@@pillboxmovies I can only imagine lol
Too me this film has always been Tarkovskys critique/problems with the Soviet Union and the Modern World at large. The three characters each representing one of the key pillars of traditional human society. The writer representing the arts, the professor representing academia/the forces of progress, and and the stalker representing faith. The world Stalker exists in is one in which art is made empty and is commercialized, science and progress are in a position of unquestioned power and faith is banished and in decline. If you haven’t seen The Sacrifice I’d highly recommend it. It works a very nice companion piece to Stalker.
I always saw this film as an Anti Soviet Union/Communist film… but ofc Stalker can be interpreted in many ways
@@LorFire Mind explaining what made you see it that way?
@@Johnnysmithy24 mainly through the monologues and the mise en scene, especially at the beginning of the film, it was filmed in some chemical wasteland = Soviet Union… so location is important too, I will have to rewatch again though as I saw it a few years ago
@@LorFire Interesting
@@LorFire If you’re right, then it’s nice to see an arthouse film that doesn’t get overly leftist. They get kinda tiring
Wow, amazing reaction. Well done! I’d never considered the grail quest before, and as soon as you said it I was like “of course!” I still don’t understand why the glass moves. It haunts me, like the last shot in Solaris.
I interpret it as the last time the point of belief is injected. Throughout you question if there is anything supernatural at all like the Stalker says and in the end nothing happens in the room really. Then we see the glass moving and become convinced again that there is something, before realizing that its just the vibration from the train passing by like at the beginning, or is it?
@@leon9021понятно, что поезд тут не при чëм. Каждый предмет движется отдельно после того, как она переводит на него взгляд.
@@user-bv9xq1lz1f Nu uh.
If you want an idea of how big a 20 kiloton bomb's explosion would be, the Beirut explosion was 0.5 kilotons and the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima was around 15 kilotons.
Good reaction!
Thank you!
those were real, new tanks that had to be made as if they were there for a very long time, he was funded enormously in a time where art was very limited and state controlled so yes he had art that the high politicians enjoyed
Thank you for reviewing
Thanks for watching!
They filmed in a real abandoned power-plant.
The radiation from which, went on to kill the director, and some of the cast and crew (obviously years later)...
it were chemical polutants, not the radiation that killed some of the crew.
its both speculation as far as i know@@reinherz2797
3:00 "This is Annihalation".
Yes, yes it is. Annihilation pulled a lot of worldbuilding concepts from the worldbuilding of A&B. Strugacki's - the authors of the book Stalker is based on ,"Roadside Picnic".
I didn't know that, thank you!
First, you speak Russian? Second, you’re a filmmaker too? It’s what I wanna do for work as well haha. This movie rules. Granted, couldn’t finish it all on one sitting, but I still love it haha. Have you watched Cries and Whispers by Bergman btw? It’s another favorite of mine lol
Nah, I was just reading off of subtitles I later swapped out because they didn't seem as accurate.
Some of it was filmed in Tallinn, Estonia
Do you have a Letterboxd?
Sounds like you need to prioritize Andrei Rublev.
Why the Soviet authorities allowed him to make a 3 1/2 hour movie about a medieval icon painter is a mystery for the ages. Somewhere you said that you hadn't seen Tarkovsky work on an epic scale. Andrei Rubev will check that box.
No need to watch it for me. Amazing experience.
I’d recommend Satantango, it’s my favorite movie (among others)!
Thanks!
I wish more people filmed their reaction to classic films.
Mia Tiffany, and sometimes James vs. Cinema and CinemaRules have had classic film reactions!
I will.
Sammy from Late Nights with Sammy watches classic films, especially silent comedians. His style can be frustrating at times, but he occasionally offers good insight.
@@guywholivesforart Thanks!
Watch Human Condition.
What do you mean 'so you don't have to'? Who wouldn't want to watch such a masterpiece?
Also, Annihilation is really just a rip-off of this film...
"Who wouldn't want to watch such a masterpiece?"
90% of Americans, no mcu heroes in it.
@@voiceover2191 Good point...
@@voiceover2191 I would say 90% of the world population lol I've shown Tarkovsky's masterpieces to all my family and friends and everyone of them thinks it is an "experimental movie".