Stalker. Andrei Tarkovsky. 1979. ⚅
I was so sure I’d already blogged about this movie that I didn’t re-buy it for this Officially The Best blog series. But then it turned out that I hadn’t, so I rebought it on bluray. Which took weeks to get here.
And now it turns out that the bluray won’t rip! So I can’t watch it anyway!
GAH
So I downloaded this 1.4K version off of the interwebs.
Like an animal.
[an hour passes]
Geez. I mean, I’ve seen this movie a couple times before, but I had almost forgotten how hypnotic it is. It feels like no time has passed since I put it on.
[more time passes]
This movie is so thrilling that it’s difficult to sometimes grasp what’s so thrilling about it. I mean, it’s basically three guys playing “the floor is lava”, but with more complicated rules. The philosophical slash religious ramblings don’t really do anything for me, so it’s mostly… the set design? I guess? The set design is out of this world: Everything looks so old and gnarly and… artistic. It’s like watching a Vaughan Oliver dream.
Did I mention that everything is moist? I’m guessing all the actors got pneumonia when making this.
[the end]
Man, that’s a good movie. I guess you could write a bunch of books about what “it’s about” (like the Zona book (which is great)), but I don’t really think it matters much: It’s undeniable that every scene here is gripping.
It’s fascinating how that happens without any of the actors being very interesting. It’s all a matter of placing the camera and having a groovy bunch of set designers, I guess? Sure, sure, that’s plenty moronically reductive, but prove me wrong.
This blog post is part of the Officially The Best series.
That has to be the most beautiful movie ever! Every frame you have provided is like a carefully posed daguerreotype, and the muted colours are superb. Reckon your blu-ray must have died of narcissism.