Stories from outside the cerebral zone.
Quick bitesize views of the films of cinema auteurs and classic masterpieces that played at the ‘Star and Shadow’ from someone who…. ‘Will fill this part in later when they can think of something witty? Ideas would be appreciated.
26/5/22 – ‘Stalker’ 1979 – Andrei Tarkovsky
One of my closest friends has been trying to get me to watch this for years. I did not fancy it at all. I even watched a documentary about the film and still never watched it. Unfortunately it was playing on Thursday at the S&S and I could not avoid it any longer. I have not got the imagination to come up with an excuse to not watch it. THANKS SEAN.
Firstly the film is over 2 and a half hours long. So long. I thought the film was beautifully shot. There is no escaping that. Tarkovsky is obviously a very exacting director. Every shot gorgeous and meticulous in detail. Tarkovsky makes sure you are aware of this with extremely long takes that push in really slowly and occasionally pulls out really slowly. The other thing to catch my attention was the over the top Foley/sound affects which were obviously added after the fact. They were all so over the top. This is what a foot in a puddle sounds like, this is what a train sounds like, this is what a wheel turning sounds like. Early where there was the sound of a car coming to a screeching halt whilst on screen the car was braking from a 5mph speed. It got a chuckle out of me. Occasionally there was music which I quite liked, it was haunting. There wasn’t much of it and it felt like it was unsure if it was supposed to be in this movie.
The movie itself…. Jesus Christ. It promised so much and delivered nothing. Every time a character was told not to do something because it was dangerous they did it anyway and nothing happened. At one point a character, ‘The Scientist’ decided he was going to blow up the ‘zone’ with a home-made explosive device, he fiddled with it for 10 minutes, then just dismantled it and threw the parts away. Oh my god do something. Talk, talk, talk. For over 2 and a half hours I felt like I was visiting 3 blokes who were tripping balls and they were having a grand old time, whilst I was frustrated and bored as they talked and talked about their trippy insights in to reality.
I’ve watched it Ade. I even wrote this piece about it for no one to read, I never want to hear about this films again.
Until next time this has been a story from outside the cerebral zone.
Whakapai