Tarkovski's The Stalker
- Thread starter DLD
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kevin baggott
Well-known member
Worked in all the revival houses in NYC when younger - stalker along with children of paradise always, always, our two most successful screenings. for good reason.
drboffa
Well-known member
I remember buying a DVD of "Nostalghia" on a whim in an Italian bookstore—the cover seemed interesting and I wanted something to watch to keep working on my Italian. Little did I realize I was picking up one of the most transformative film experiences of my life! I'd seen some films before that might be considered arthouse or experimental, but nothing quite like Tarkovsky. I really do feel like there was a "before Tarkovsky" and "after Tarkovsky" in my approach to cinema.
And "Nostalghia" is still probably my favorite work of his. Although "Solaris" is a close second.
And "Nostalghia" is still probably my favorite work of his. Although "Solaris" is a close second.
A while ago, I linked to Mosfilm's YouTube upload of the "Cranes are flying" (a mediocre, literal translation by the Soviets back in the day ... a better version would be "Cranes in the Air"), which won the best film prize (Palme D'or) at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Someone uploaded a 4K print made for Criterion recently. The subtitles are in some Slavic language and the English translation by YouTube is just awful. But it really doesn't matter much because the film is dialog sparse and its main achievement was the direction by Mikhail Kalatozov and the cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky.
The famed stairs scene starts at ~ 5:40. The just as famed departure scene is at ~ 29:30. Both are worth the price of admission.
The famed stairs scene starts at ~ 5:40. The just as famed departure scene is at ~ 29:30. Both are worth the price of admission.
kevin baggott
Well-known member
I didn't know she was married to Klimov. They've been showing her stuff on criterion channel for a couple of months now.
The Ascent is based on a short story "Sotnikov" by the great Belorussian writer and a WWII infantryman Vasily Bykov. He was one of the few to write about the horrors of war as realistically, ie., horrifically, as possible. The communist rulers didn't really like him that much but he was "discovered" during Khrushchev's thaw and remained an icon with his work. Several of his novels were turned into film. Shepit'ko had to have some power behind her to receive the permission because it's a tragic WWII story. But the film was the Golden Bear (Top Prize) winner in Berlin and she was on her way to stardom.
And then she got killed in a car crash.
"To Survive until Dawn" is a great novel but only a so-so 1975 film. Bykov co-wrote the screenplay. They had to insert certain sequences that weren't in the book to please the powers-that-be.
The basic premise - fall of 1941, a Red Army recon platoon crosses into the enemy territory at the wrong moment. Just as they find themselves a little behind the enemy lines, the Germans begin a major offensive toward Moscow and the platoon realizes that they are deep inside the enemy territory - albeit on a Russian soil - without enough food and any idea where the actual battle lines are. They decide to switch from mere observers to a setting up an ambush but lose several men due being unable to detect a well camouflaged German machine gun nest.
When they make it to own lines several weeks later, they discover that whatever division they were attached to got completely wiped out and there's no record of them even being the Red Army soldiers. And, if they're not, any officer of higher standing would feel justified in executing them as spies. The platoon commander, however, manages to talk a political officer (aka a commissar) in charge of their fate to give him another chance, give him a few more men, so they could ski on a freshly fallen snow to wherever they came from in order to blow up one of the targets they spotted, a German ammo dump.
And so begins their adventure. To go deep behind the line during a long Russian night, go around the various impediments on the road, etc. Knowing Bykov, none of them makes it alive. Or even causes much damage. Because it's war.
The basic premise - fall of 1941, a Red Army recon platoon crosses into the enemy territory at the wrong moment. Just as they find themselves a little behind the enemy lines, the Germans begin a major offensive toward Moscow and the platoon realizes that they are deep inside the enemy territory - albeit on a Russian soil - without enough food and any idea where the actual battle lines are. They decide to switch from mere observers to a setting up an ambush but lose several men due being unable to detect a well camouflaged German machine gun nest.
When they make it to own lines several weeks later, they discover that whatever division they were attached to got completely wiped out and there's no record of them even being the Red Army soldiers. And, if they're not, any officer of higher standing would feel justified in executing them as spies. The platoon commander, however, manages to talk a political officer (aka a commissar) in charge of their fate to give him another chance, give him a few more men, so they could ski on a freshly fallen snow to wherever they came from in order to blow up one of the targets they spotted, a German ammo dump.
And so begins their adventure. To go deep behind the line during a long Russian night, go around the various impediments on the road, etc. Knowing Bykov, none of them makes it alive. Or even causes much damage. Because it's war.
i’m somewhat enamored with the cinematography in the film. so much taboo and formula mixed into something that feels slightly unexpected.
The story sounds bleak, but i often appreciate the observations and thoughts surrounding the circumsrances. i’ll watch it too. I still have to watch ‘Cranes…’ The B+W and camera movement is incredible.
The story sounds bleak, but i often appreciate the observations and thoughts surrounding the circumsrances. i’ll watch it too. I still have to watch ‘Cranes…’ The B+W and camera movement is incredible.
Cranes won the Golden Palm (top award) at the Cannes Film Festival. Buoyed by the global recognition and good foreign rentals for the film, the director Mikhail Kalatozov received a plum job of going to a recently communist Cuba to make an artistic, yet totally politically appropriate for the USSR. film. Kalatozov then spent two years of shooting down in Cuba - much better weather than in Moscow, I hear - and delivered the finished cut to the main Soviet propagandist/Minister W/out Portfolio Mikhail Suslov in 1964. Suslov promptly shelved the project and it remained hidden for almost 25 years when glasnost' stripped away the state censorship.
The film was called "I am Cuba" ("Soy Cuba" in Spanish). And is now considered an example of operational virtuosity.
Mind you, Suslov may have been evil but there was no way he could allow that lifestyle to be shown in Soviet movie theaters.
Another famous long take.
The full movie is available but it's in Portuguese. Not that there's much dialog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66eKg5Vzcgg
Correction - it's in its original Spanish, but with the Portuguese subtitles.