a.

b. it's still there, Itlan. (/forum1)

c. for what it's worth, i saw part of "The Return" and didn't like it at all... obviously the figures are symbolic/metaphorical, as is traditional for the artistic school Zvyagintsev comes from... but that wasn't enough to redeem it, in my view. do you reckon "The Banishment" is less annoying, David?

d. happy 80th birthday, Andrei. i think your inspiration is felt more than ever.

from the set of "steamroller and the violin" (which, btw, was inspired by lamorisse's "red balloon")


from the set of "ivan's childhood"...








does this remind anyone of anything...

i'm thinking the closing moments from "the mirror"

Woah. Awesome.

I'm a pretty big movie buff, Jake.

As I'm sure everyone here is aware of, I'm not big on symbolism, so naturally my question arises: what the fuck were those characters symbols for? Yes, The Return is most definitely an annoying film, but there was a relaxed atmosphere about it that I could ease into and ignore the things that irritated me for the duration of the film. I watched it without being really annoyed, but once the film was over I was all like shit, that blue filter was fucked up and that father guy was one terrible character and that kid was overacting and what not...

I think The Banishment is MUCH better. There is nothing wrong with any of the characters (although imo the last half hour shows some flaws in the narrative development of the film but that's hardly what's interesting about this film), the photography is beautiful and the imagery is just a constant reminder of Tark beauty: women sitting by the window, characters strolling around in the garden not saying much, frames placed around open doorways, etc etc.

I must confess I find it impossible to tell whether or not you'll like a film, George, but if you're at all interested to see how someone pays tribute to a filmmaker you love so deeply, you should at least give this a whirl. As I said before, it's only the pictorial aspect of this film that reminds one of Tarkovsky and nothing else. And that's what I like most about his films, so for me The Banishment was one helluva movie. Much more beautiful than The Return.

the symbolism is irrelevant and failed if it's not obvious... that's how i feel about it, and "the return" struck me as such instance, sorry to say.
i will put "banishment" on my mental to-watch list, then... merci (-:

a shot that seems like it could have come straight out of '20s german expressionism...

"Once we have reached a new level of cognition, we have to move our other leg to a new level of morality as well. I wanted to prove with my work [Solaris] that the issue of moral strength and moral integrity penetrates our entire existence; it manifests itself even in those areas which seemingly have nothing to do with morals, like space exploration, the study of the objective world, and so on."

i wholeheartedly agree... only i'm not so sure we have reached a new level of cognition yet... (and i really doubt he refers to "modernity" in its true nietzschean sense because he was absolutely against it in principle anyway)

I watched The Mirror several weeks ago and I really can't wrap my head around it. I neither like nor dislike the film, it simply "is" to me, but I don't really mean that in a negative way. I'm being rather presumptuous, but what is it that you all see in it that makes it so wonderful to you?

a kid sitting in front of my in physics class had his computer open and this was his screensaver:

George (or anyone), is there a good comp of Eduard Artemiev's music?

if he seems interesting, that's a good opportunity to get acquainted.

Led, do you mean Artemiev's soundtracks just for Tarkovksky, or for other movies as well? there are compilations in both cases... i don't remember their titles, but i downloaded them on soulseek some years back. so you might want to do a search there.

Well, I listen to his stuff on youtube, but I was wondering if there was a good comp that has a good selection on it.

Dammit, just when I have time to finally sit through all of The Sacrifice, it's checked out of the library and past its due date. I watched the first half some time ago and would like to watch the movie in its entirety since it's my one lacuna with Tarkovsky.

What did you think? I can't make heads or tails of it.

of the african children problem or the disarmingly simple movie?