Worthy attempt at intelligent and introspective science fiction from master stylist and poet of cinema Andrei TARKOVSKY. By dispensing with most of the usual technological trappings of the genre (that is usually no more than scientistic pornography designed to conceal the lack of themes, story or realistic plot) we are left to ponder the deeper mystery.
This is a story of a rural area apparently destroyed by a meteorite where entire populations and investigators (Stalkers) disappear yet flowers bloom – albeit without a scent. In a sense, this is anti science fiction since it is more concerned with fiction than science.
Where this film has its biggest problem leis in the fact that so much time is devoted to revealing as little as possible. This all too easily becomes a frustrating meander rather than a gripping puzzle that we have an emotional investment in solving. Banal philosophical musings do not help much here, either. And the strong sense of everyone living in an emotional prison leads us to assume we are similarly imprisoned as we can only wonder when either a valid point is to be made or the film end.
However, the look of the film is stunning. The portraitist aspect of TARKOVSKY's cinema is well to the fore in close ups of actors who are supernaturally capable of delivering performances without moving their lips; in other words, without appearing to perform at all.
Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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