Stalker

• Year: 1979
• Country: Russia
• Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
• Starring: Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko

I went to see this at the Cinematheque yesterday thinking I was re-watching a classic film I’d seen a long time ago. After a few minutes I realized I hadn’t seen this masterpiece at all. It was about time…! What to say about it that has never been said before? A guide, known as a Stalker, leads two men, a professor and a writer, to The Zone: an area sealed off by the government which has a room that supposedly grants wishes – your biggest true desire. The three make their journey and along the way unfolds an incredible existential piece of art, complete with long takes, sepia-toned film and dialogue about life, art, contentment – the meaning of life, really, if I were to push it further – but there are countless analyses on Stalker. It’s worth noting that many of the cast and crew, Tarkovsky and its lead actors included, died young as a result of the film’s shoot using toxic locations – spilled chemicals and toxic poisons in abandoned industrial areas. I know it’s a cliché to call a film a unique experience, but this one is. The trailer will explain it even better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ianfGdmZOc