watched this again on blu-ray a couple of weeks ago - never fails to be absolutely captivating
the stalker's dream is one of the most spellbinding sequences in cinema imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0VJa3HmsJQ
― Rush Limbaugh and Lou Reed doing sex with your parents (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 09:48 (seven years ago) link
oh i started watching this the other day but my O/h was really tired and not in the mood for b/w with subtitles and gloominess. I really want to watch it though.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:07 (seven years ago) link
love this so much.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:10 (seven years ago) link
dl, it's only in black and white for a while before it transitions to colour (in another indelible sequence)
the b&w photography is so, so beautiful though. it's got so much texture to it
― Rush Limbaugh and Lou Reed doing sex with your parents (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:14 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, it reminded me of Werckmeister Harmonies quite a lot (I can imagine Bela Tar was highly influenced by this film). As I say, we barely got 20 mins through before we realised this was a film for another time.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:19 (seven years ago) link
A few visual similarities aside, I don't think Tarkovsky and Tarr have v much in common. In fact, Tarr articulated the difference quite well: “Tarkovsky is religious and we are not… he always had hope; he believed in God. He’s much more innocent than us – than me. No, we have seen too many things to make his kind of film… he is much softer, much nicer. Rain in his films purifies people. In mine it just makes mud.”
― Darcy Sarto (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:26 (seven years ago) link
It is a great quote but Tarkovsky must have seen some brutality himself growing up during the great terror and then the war.
― calzino, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 10:31 (seven years ago) link
I think that even the religious hope in Tarkovsky's films is tempered by some extreme self-doubt. God is hardly pedestaled as some end to suffering.
I like his famous quote about how Stalker should be “slower and duller at the start so that the viewers who walked into the wrong theatre have time to leave before the main action starts.”
― dance band (tangenttangent), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 11:12 (seven years ago) link
I agree. That sequence from Stalker posted above is a good demonstration. Mankind is destined to die and be forgotten, and all of its works, including religion. It's like his faith was in the face of knowing there was no destiny or future for mankind beyond this sort-of ultimate apocalypse, and why his works are so emotionally extreme in their beauty. I'm not a Tarkovsky or film scholar by any means, but that's what I get from it at least.
― larry appleton, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 17:05 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, nihilists/cynics etc. always think they've seen more that others - the scales have fallen from their eyes, rather than their eyes having scabbed up.
― Eallach mhór an duine leisg (dowd), Tuesday, 13 December 2016 20:20 (seven years ago) link
That Tarr quote makes me think significantly less of him.
― circa1916, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 20:31 (seven years ago) link
Reading his dad's poetry and its fantastic, some of the most affecting Russian poetry this side of Tsvetaeva!
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 13 December 2016 23:42 (seven years ago) link
Completely agree. Hearing it in Mirror for the first time blew me away.
dowd otm and with best poetic imagery.
― dance band (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 01:38 (seven years ago) link
he stalker's strong resemblance to Woody Harrelson was distracting.
Haha -- true!
One of our art houses will show Stalker next Tuesday -- I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I wonder if they got their hands on the Criterion early?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 June 2017 19:47 (six years ago) link
The 4K resto is via Janus Films, ie the version that Criterion puts out. It's the way the Film Forum in NYC operates now. So really, fuck DCP.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 23 June 2017 20:10 (six years ago) link
I'll be seeing the restoration next Wednesday. They showed the Solaris restoration this week, which was really great.
― jmm, Friday, 23 June 2017 21:15 (six years ago) link
Restoration is striking. Saw it in NYC a few weeks back.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 24 June 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link
Totally. After only seeing it on that crummy DVD, this looked stunning. Great work.
― circa1916, Saturday, 24 June 2017 00:03 (six years ago) link
DCP is great though
― he not like the banana (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 24 June 2017 15:58 (six years ago) link
If there's a disc, I don't need to pay $15 to see the same thing larger though.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 24 June 2017 17:03 (six years ago) link
What's DCP?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 June 2017 17:05 (six years ago) link
Digital Cinema Package- it's the hard drive that digitally projected films are bundled onto.
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Saturday, 24 June 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link
I'd reckon that a DCP projections has way more in common with a film projection than with a small television
― he not like the banana (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 24 June 2017 22:01 (six years ago) link
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing),
Thanks. Oh, that thing! I haven't seen any notable differences. Stevie otm.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 June 2017 22:11 (six years ago) link
It depends on the smallness of the television, of course, but dcp and celluloid are two fundamentally different things, and they look very different. DCP is fine though, when I helped arrange a showing of Solaris recently we chose the DCP as well.
― Frederik B, Saturday, 24 June 2017 22:27 (six years ago) link
The 4K resto is via Janus Films, ie the version that Criterion puts out. It's the way the Film Forum in NYC operates now. So really, fuck DCP
Cannot compute this post.
― Heavy Doors (jed_), Saturday, 24 June 2017 22:44 (six years ago) link
Saw the restoration (on DCP) in Philly a few weeks back and was blown away for what it's worth.
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Sunday, 25 June 2017 02:28 (six years ago) link
Anyone know the Sokurov scifi film Days of Eclipse (1988)? It shares a pair of novelist/screenwriters with Stalker. Showing tonight at NYC MoMA.
https://criticsroundup.com/film/days-of-eclipse/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 August 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
btw i never knew the source novel that was loosely adapted for Stalker has the title Roadside Picnic (tho it's referenced at the start of the thread).
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 August 2017 20:21 (six years ago) link
Then no wonder you didn't get the point of my screenname I used for this post
― Barkis Garvey (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 3 August 2017 20:49 (six years ago) link
i'm only one man.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 August 2017 21:03 (six years ago) link
Also, Roadside Picnic is by the same guys who wrote Hard To Be A God.
― Fetchboy, Thursday, 3 August 2017 21:11 (six years ago) link
I got to catch the restored version on the big screen a month ago, it was quite an experience. There was tons of detail like the specifics of the debris in the water or the rusting tanks in the field that I completely missed in many previous TV viewings. My big takeaway is that this may be the most physically textured film ever. Every single shot has a strong tactile quality.
― Moodles, Thursday, 3 August 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
Roadside Picnic is great, and I think I had this thread to thank for leading me to the pdf (when it was out of print).
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 3 August 2017 22:09 (six years ago) link
I mentioned trying for a second time upthread (five years ago); I think tonight might have been the fourth. I think I basically get it, or part of it, in broad outline--the Zone is Oz, it's Godot, it's Miracle City in The Leftovers. (Or maybe it's the Black Lodge, or Room 101.) It's a great film to talk about--my friend and I went for coffee afterwards and compared notes for 20 or 30 minutes. The actual watching of it, sorry; I just find it tedious. I get very little out of it visually (except the last shot). Not that I loved The Mirror, but it did have that incredible pre-Ringu image. I find the brown parts in Stalker exceedingly ugly. Which they're supposed to be, I guess. The guy who made a big deal about going back to get his napsack reminded me of the babysitter in Goodfellas and her lucky hat. These are the silly things I think about when I'm bored, and I feel like I'm betraying the seriousness of the film when I do. My friend's going to lend me the Geoff Dyer book Zona--don't know anything about him or the book, but I'm hoping it sheds some light.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:27 (six years ago) link
were you at tonight's screening in TO? more walkouts than I was expecting for a 14$ rep screening lmao
― Simon H., Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:34 (six years ago) link
I was, yeah. Didn't notice the walkouts--we were maybe halfway down in the middle. I think I only drifted for 10 or 15 minutes tonight, better than the other times (lost some towards the end of part one).
For anyone who counts it as one of your favourite films--it won the ILX road-movie poll--I wish I could experience it as you do. I have some of the same problems with The Tree of Life. Maybe it's a temperament thing, I don't know. There are long, slow films I love. My attention doesn't flag for a second during six hours of Frederick Wiseman's Near Death.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:40 (six years ago) link
weirdly, I drifted off a bit during the screenings of The Sacrifice and The Mirror but stayed totally awake for Stalker. I find power-napping to Tarkovsky movies to be extremely pleasant (less so in public where snoring is a real danger)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:43 (six years ago) link
my main takeaway from this screening was that I really wish the men had brought that woman along with them to the Zone
― Simon H., Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:46 (six years ago) link
Agree wholeheartedly; she had more personality than the three of them put together. (Which, again, I realize is beside the point--I know, I know...)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 04:50 (six years ago) link
Saw it on the big screen a few months ago, loved it even more. There are whole visual layers that are hard to see on TV. I get the "boring" tag, but I just find the whole thing sort of texturally exciting from one shot to the next.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 05:30 (six years ago) link
I recently watched it at home for the first time, after trying and giving up once before. I don't know whether I 'got it' or not. There was an interview with Geoff Dyer on the Criterion Collection that I watched afterwards, and he made the interesting point that the first segments of the Zone (in Part I) strongly reminded him of being a child, wandering aimlessly and making up games to play among the remnants of old disused rail depots in the English countryside.
For me, the most mind-blowing moment in the entire movie (*minor spoiler alert*) came after the Zone, when we go back to the bedroom in Stalker's house where the opening sequence took place; but now the camera has been turned 90 degrees to reveal a wall, previously concealed out of frame, whose floor-to-ceiling shelves are completely stuffed with books.
― bernard snowy, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 13:23 (six years ago) link
even though I stayed awake this time the movie seems designed to lull you into a nap, including placing the Part 2 marker only an hour in
― Simon H., Tuesday, 21 November 2017 13:54 (six years ago) link
x-post: Ah nice, I've missed that. Claire Denis does the same in 35 Shots of Rhum, and it's also completely mind-blowing.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 14:01 (six years ago) link
― clemenza, Tuesday, November 21, 2017 4:40 AM (nine hours ago)
a) it didn't win, it was #2!b) I fucking hate Tree of Life and find the comparison v insulting.c) Sometimes people just don't gel with something! And that's okay (sorry for accidental clickbait phrasing).
― emil.y, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 14:11 (six years ago) link
I know what you mean, but for me the contrast between the 'men in the Zone' bulk of the film and the sudden voice & agency of the female characters is startling in the best way. It had an enormous emotional impact on me when I first saw it.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
the Dyer book is worth the read, but it's paced like the film.
I've watched it three times, agree with clemenza.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 14:18 (six years ago) link
Apparently I bought the wrong Blu-Ray edition as the Curzon Home Cinema version uses an un-restored print, and it shows. You can see the film jump at every reel change, the soundtrack is often buried under crackling and so much of that incredible surface detail is lost in the murk. Seriously disappointing.
If I'd known how bad it was I wouldn't have bothered.
― Pheeel, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 16:30 (six years ago) link
(xpost) Obviously, no insult intended--I guess I think of them both as somewhat mystical (which probably just tells you that I'm not getting one or both of them).
Forgot--Badlands won the road-movie poll.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 16:40 (six years ago) link
Another guy at his wit's end.
http://yarn.co/yarn-clip/b4d2f220-0c8f-48ce-97d7-8f2f37246f72#BJTxAHj8QWG.copy
― clemenza, Monday, 4 December 2017 23:35 (six years ago) link