This wonderball film is the only one of Tarkovsky's works that somehow made me feel cheated for something. The beginning was utterly mystical and strange and attracted me to the film, but halfway through I had a hard time keeping up.
Of course, there are scenes that were as stunning as anything Tarkovsky has done before, if not even more stunning. The church scene in the beginning of the movie is one. Then the bath place scene and the scene where the Russian talks with THE MAN in Josephson's interpretation. Yet by the end of it, I felt more sad, disturbed and hopeless than with any other of Tarkovsky's movies or any other movies in general. What is the message, the hidden message, behind this film? Why does THE MAN set fire to himself? And did the Russian really manage to "save the human kind"?
It all left me more depressed than I've ever been, only "Arlington Road" and "Donnie Darko" made me feel the same. And in the end, between the strange dream sequences, Josephson's metaphysic theories and Yankovsky's grim performance, I came out feeling like I was cheated for THE THING. That thing that was there in "Andrei Rublyov", "Solaris" and "Stalker".
Anyway, this is perhaps the most existentialistic of Tarkovsky's films, which should say something about it's nature and serve as a warning to those who intend to see it. It is a haunting, deeply personal and unreserved journey to redemption and knowing this was the director's last Soviet film, it adds a symbolical value to the film. Still, together with "Zerkalo", this is one of the few Tarkovsky's films which is impossible to enjoy as it is too dark and painful.9/10
Of course, there are scenes that were as stunning as anything Tarkovsky has done before, if not even more stunning. The church scene in the beginning of the movie is one. Then the bath place scene and the scene where the Russian talks with THE MAN in Josephson's interpretation. Yet by the end of it, I felt more sad, disturbed and hopeless than with any other of Tarkovsky's movies or any other movies in general. What is the message, the hidden message, behind this film? Why does THE MAN set fire to himself? And did the Russian really manage to "save the human kind"?
It all left me more depressed than I've ever been, only "Arlington Road" and "Donnie Darko" made me feel the same. And in the end, between the strange dream sequences, Josephson's metaphysic theories and Yankovsky's grim performance, I came out feeling like I was cheated for THE THING. That thing that was there in "Andrei Rublyov", "Solaris" and "Stalker".
Anyway, this is perhaps the most existentialistic of Tarkovsky's films, which should say something about it's nature and serve as a warning to those who intend to see it. It is a haunting, deeply personal and unreserved journey to redemption and knowing this was the director's last Soviet film, it adds a symbolical value to the film. Still, together with "Zerkalo", this is one of the few Tarkovsky's films which is impossible to enjoy as it is too dark and painful.9/10