tarkovsky's stalker

I was in a 7/8 class this morning, so for Tarkovsky's birthday (and forgetting it was MLK Day--got to him later) I talked about the S&S poll, then played the final three minutes of Stalker. Couldn't get any sound, which definitely mattered.

They were a good class, so they listened and watched without interruption. But I sensed the general feeling in the room was "What the fuck is this guy going on about?"

I know you will have told them!

In my own fumbling manner--"So to sit there completely mystified for two-and-a-half-hours, and then to end with this...amazing!--yes. (Told them I loved the ending, that I've struggled with the film three or four times, and that I have drifted off every time.)

You should show them the rail journey. That's my fave part.

If I had to introduce somebody to Tarkovsky using a clip of only a few minutes...maybe the balloon ride from Rublev? Or the missile attack in The Sacrifice where the milk jug crashes to the floor?

The clip I feel like I see used most as a Tarkovsky emblem is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Q7cvTh_jU

Watching Stalker for the first time was actually life-changing, inasmuch as it totally rewired my brain's way of thinking about landscape, art and even time.

Currently reading the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer which feels like it is consciously riffing off the Zona/Roadside Picnic/Stalker (as did M. John Harrison in his Kefahuchi Tract books). Really good.

The film of Annihilation definitely plays off of Stalker too.

except, sucks

I don't suppose anyone managed to save the 4K Stalker before it disappeared?

I enjoyed Annihilation for its proggy trippiness.

you mean on blu-ray? can't find anything about this. link?

xp

oh wait, you're talking about the mosfilm yt upload. seems strange that it got pulled when the others are still up there.

I think it's most likely geoblocked? Might try to find a solution.

Mosfilm has so much good stuff up. The other day I watched a 90's comedy about a 19th century noblewoman who dreams she works in a canteen in Moscow in the 90's, it basically felt like Traumazone: The Movie.

what was it called?

Dreams