Andrei Tarkovsky: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

Andrei Arsenevich Tarkovsky (1932–1986) was a Soviet film director, writer, and theorist. His family had a literary background, and he studied art, music and language at school. But during the [[Great Patriotic War]], his father was drafted and Andrei, his mother, and his sisters had to evacuate. He caught tuberculosis and recovered in a hospital. He dropped out of university and decided to become a prospector. He was sent to Siberia and, in the wilderness there, discovered film.

His films were controversial with Soviet authorities because Tarkovsky dared to ask these heavy questions instead of accepting dogma. This gave his films extra credentials outside the Soviet Union, especially in the West, whose film critics gave high praise to each of his films. But recognition at home would have to wait until after his 1986 death from cancer, which came just as Mikhail Gorbachev was opening the Soviet Union again. Tarkovsky was posthumously awarded the Lenin Prize in 1990, and the Russian government created the Andrei Tarkovsky Memorial Prize to award the country's most talented filmmakers.

 

* ''The Killers'' (1956) was Tarkovsky's first student film, based on the short story by [[Ernest Hemingway]].

* ''There Will Be No Leave Today'' (1959) was his second student film, about soldiers trying to protect a small town by disposing of unexploded bombs. It is the least typical film for Tarkovsky, resembling a patriotic war film, but was played on Victory Day for a few years afterward.

* ''Ivan's Childhood'' (1962) or ''My Name Is Ivan'' was Tarkovsky's first feature film. Like ''Cranes Are Flying'' or ''The Ballad of a Soldier'', this film explores [[War Is Hell|the suffering and human cost of war]] as seen by Ivan, a 12-year-old boy in [[World War II]] occupied Russia. It was a commercial and critical success, and gained Tarkovsky his first real fame as a director.

* ''[[Andrei Rublev]]'' (1966) is Tarkovsky's longest film, at 205 minutes, and is a [[Biopic]] of medieval Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev, focusing on his role in creating the Russian Christian identity. Its depictions of ancient religion and ambiguity about politics got this film censored for years. However, it was his first widely awarded film.

* ''[[The Mirror]]'' (1975) or ''Mirror'' was a loosely autobiographical film that Tarkovsky had been working on since 1964. It is told out of order, and is a chronicle of the life and meditations of Alexei. This film did not have an official premiere, but has since become better known and welcomed into the Tarkovsky oeuvre.

* ''Voyage in Time'' (1982) was Tarkovsky's first "foreign" film, and documented his collaboration with Tonino Guerra in preparation for...

* ''Nostalghia'' (1983), made in Italy, about a Russian writer who goes to Italy to research the life of a Russian composer who killed himself upon returning home. Along the way, the writer begins to feel nostalgia for Russia, befriends a madman, and begins reflecting upon himself.

* ''The Sacrifice'' (1986) or ''Offret'' was Tarkovsky's final film, made in Sweden. As the world dies in a nuclear holocaust, the writer Alexander promises to God he will sacrifice everything he loves if only God will save the world. It was Tarkovsky's homage to his peer and idol [[Ingmar Bergman]]. Shortly after finishing this film, Tarkovsky died.

 

* [[Acting for Two]]: Margarita Terekhova in ''The Mirror''. See [[Doppelganger]] below for why.

* [[Contemplate Our Navels]]: A frequent criticism of Tarkovsky is that his films contain too much meditation and not enough action, but he preferred it this way, so that we really can think about what we are seeing and hearing.

* [[Creator Thumbprint]]: Lots of expansive, panning, cinematic shots. Also expect to see horses used with excessive Symbolism.

* [[Dead Little Brother]]: Indirectly. Porcupine hanged himself out of guilt for having sent his brother to die in the Zone so he could become rich. Porcupine was the Stalker, and his death promoted the current Stalker to the position.

* [[Dead Little Sister|Dead Wife and Dead Scientist]]: Kris Kelvin's wife Hari poisoned herself ten years ago, and the scientist Gibaryan died just before Kelvin's arrival to Solaris.

* [[Failed a Spot Check]]: One of the soldiers trying to prevent people from approaching the Zone sees Stalker's car, but does not think that Stalker is hiding under the car.

* [[Fan Service]]: Alexei's mother in ''The Mirror'' takes a shower in full view of the camera, and in ''Solaris'' Hari's nipples poke through her shirt when she resurrects after taking the liquid oxygen.

* [[Gainax Ending]]: Some of his movies seem to end in this way, like for example ''[[The Mirror]]'' and ''Nostalghia''. See also [[Mind Screw]].

* [[Genius Loci]]: Solaris (a planet or rather planetary intelligence) and the Zone (a strange, secluded wilderness). "The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish."

* [[Healing Factor]]: The projection of Hari can heal deep cuts from trying to break down a metal door and, after drinking liquid oxygen, painfully resurrects on the floor of the Solaris Station.

* [[Herr Doktor]]: Doctor Snaut in ''Solaris''.

* [[Negative Space Wedgie]]: The Zone has mysterious properties, including the ability to kill people and wreck technology. The most dramatic example is when the trio enter the Zone and see the wreckage of dozens of army tanks.

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: The heads of the Solaris Project reject Burton's testimony because they refuse to concede that Solaris is that intelligent, and pull him off the Station.

* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: Bach's "Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ" in ''Solaris'' is used as Hari's theme. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and Ravel's "Bolero" bookend ''Stalker''. Bach appears again, three times, in ''The Mirror''.

* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Stalker runs on religious imagery.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: Nearly all his films, due to expert cinematography and direction, but standouts include the shots of the Zone in ''Stalker'', lovingly rendered in full color, and the vast landscapes of ''Andrei Rublev''.

** The Great Patriotic War.

** The Sino-Soviet Border War.

* [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]]: Hari.

* [[The Oner]]: a regular feature of his films are very long one camera shots.

* [[Used Future]]: The space station in ''Solaris'' is falling to pieces and covered in trash due to the scientists going mad and dying or leaving. One of the few times viewers can see litter on a space station.

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: Tarkovsky wants the audience to piece together his films, and relies on them knowing the references to other works, such as paintings, songs, books, poems, and even other films.

* [[Write Who You Know]]: Many elements in the films come from Tarkovsky's own life, such as the horrors of war, a family separated, hospitals, and someone meditating in the wilderness.

* [[You All Meet in An Inn]]: The Stalker, Writer, and Professor.

[[Category:Screenwriters]]

[[Category:Directors]]