Сталкер

English Title:	Stalker
Year:	1979
Country:	USSR
Language:	Russian
Genre:	Drama, Science Fiction
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Rating:	7.3 Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	3 Have Seen, 1 Wishlist


Director	Andrey Tarkovskiy
Selected Cast	Alisa Freyndlikh as Zhena Stalkera
	Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy as Stalker
	Anatoliy Solonitsyn as Pisatel
	Nikolay Grinko as Professor

On DVD & Blu-ray World

VHS

Stalker - Nikkatsu - Japan

DVD

Сталкер - Крупный план - Russia (2006)

Blu-ray

Stalker [1979] - The Criterion Collection - USA (2017)

DVD

Stalker: La Zona - Zima Entertainment - Mexico

DVD Box Set

Meisterwerke Von Andrej Tarkowskij - Icestorm - Germany (2006)

Comments and Reviews


Magic Marmalade 12th Jul 2022		Rated 6/10 What on earth is this!?!! I found the DVD of this, quite by accident, at a boot fair this week, and recognised it as being one of those: "You must see it before you die... or your life will have been in vain!!!" titles, that keeps appearing in various lists of this type... ... And so I watched it. The version I have is on Artificial Eye, and is two discs, with only and hour of part one on the first disc, then you have to switch for the remaining hour and a half for part two, and that's once you've navigated the subtitle menu, sound set up screen and managed at last to play it. First impressions are, that it's a bit of a misnomer to call it science fiction... ...Yes, the pretext is that a meteor crashed somewhere in "The Zone" and then, within this "Zone" is a room, where, if you journey to it, and visit the room, your greatest wishes will come true... but you never see any meteor, or anything "Science-fiction-y" at all, as this is purely a film following two guys on their journey there, led by a third man... a "Stalker", who is like a wiseman / chosen one / guide type of thing, who takes people into, and across the "Zone" to the room. And all this does is follow these guys as they speak of the mythology of the meteor and room, philosophise, and have conversations and arguments as they go. Other than the Stalker's wife and child, oh, and the barkeep in the intro, there are no other people in the film, and this set -up I've described is the entirety of the substance of the film, from beginning to end. So if you are waiting for Something to happen... it doesn't. I can see why opinions become mixed about it, as if you are expecting a landmark in epic sci-fi, based on whatever preconceptions that term brings to mind, you won't find it here, but if you see, as I think I did, that this is, instead, a kind of parable, or allegory, like a fable, or Canterbury Tales type of journey, then you might be better served. But there are couple of things to be said otherwise than the plot, or story, and which are truly remarkable: First... that cinematography!!! Holy shit! ...The first say, twenty minutes / half hour, are most strikingly shot set of masterpiece images I've ever seen, shot in a weird mix of Black and white, around a brown / sepia mid tone, and with a very definite Pink haze or mist for everything in the middle to far distance... and every shot is like some artwork painting... I mean, *every* one! In fact, it gets so it's hard to look at, and coupled with the extremely long glacial silences, and inaction, or total lack of anything happening at all... dialogue, movement anything, it starts to feel odd. ...But al of a sudden: BANG! ......COLOUR! And this really knocks you backwards. These rich, lurid greens of the forest and the grey concrete remains of old buildings is strange to see, and every so often, the light either shifts back to that black/white/ brown / sepia arrangement, or the pink mist of the distance, invades, or impinges on the green foreground of the colour shots. Over all, I'd say this is more of a moving video art installation than it is a movie... very, very arty. But is there anything more to it, substance wise? And secondly, I think there is, but it's not for me consistent with the aims, ideas, or objectives of science fiction, but more - Remembering this is a Soviet era made film- a veiled and deliberately obscure commentary of perhaps, a more political, religious, and artistic nature, in a way, I suspect, that could perhaps, not be pinned down by censors etc. (I think the sci-fi set up was more to do with Mr. Tarkovskiy being able to say: "a political critique of the state of our country and the world?.... Noooo... don't be ridiculous... look, it's clearly a science fiction!") I might, and indeed, will have to watch it again, when I muster the courage to do so, but initial thoughts are, it's the height of bleak pretentious artiness,, way too long, being stuffed with unnecessarily long shots which could have made the same points more concisely and effectively if some of them were significantly cut down, or even cut out all together, and to the extent that this could easily have been a movie short, or half hour episode of weekly TV play kind of thing. (I also got the feeling Tarkovskiy is slavishly trying to capture some kind of Kubrick-ness in how he shoots his movie... and over-cooking it somewhat!) So unless your ready to settle in for long, bleak, almost mesmerising bout of depression, I'd give it a miss, as contrary to those lists, and the opinions of film critics and the like, you won't really be missing out on anything that hasn't already been said... and better. ...You certainly do not need to "see this before you die"... nor in fact, any time soon. ✔︎ Helpful Review?



jaimeeduardo 7th Feb 2022

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