Appreciation for Andrei Tarkovsky

It was in high school when I first discovered Andrei Tarkovsky and after that I never really looked at movies the same way again. In high school I was in a class called "Cinema", and when I look back I think it may have been the only class where I really learned anything. I remember the day when we watched Stanley Kubrick's '2001: a space odyssey', and having seen the movie before it didn't bore me at all, but when I looked around the room I could see a few heads on the desk. And this is where I realized that this movie was a little slow. But the inspiring part in all this was where I was sitting. Whenever I looked up( not to see if I could spot the Monolith floating above my head) ,but a very striking portrait of Stanley Kubrick was drawn on a ceiling tile by a student who had had the class before me. So, when I delved into the career of Kubrick, I noticed that his movies paced a little different than other movies. But in some odd way, this facinated me. As I did more of my research in discovering different techniques, I came along one technique that only a few directors could pull off, the long take. Preferably tracking shots. And Kubrick had a lot of them, obviously influenced by the French director, Max Ophuls. More of my research into this technique, I came across this Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky. I liked the name, so I looked more into it. Already extremely fascinated by the long take technique, I watched one of his films at random, assuming that it would probably be cool just to watch for the camerawork. The film I watched was 'The Mirror'. The film has no coherent plot and after I watched it I didn't like it. Basically, my head was laying on a desk the entire time, but after awhile I couldn't stop thinking about the film so I re watched it. After that, I watched as many of his films that I could get my hands on. His movies are really strange, and I don't think I could get into the philosophy of them, but the matching of his camerawork and the presentation of the stories have had a strong effect on me as an admirer of film. I will grant you that his films are a tad slow, but I think that's the beauty of them. He perfected the long take, not just with the fluent movements, but with what he was capturing. It seemed like he had perfectly captured the dream state. When it comes to movies that have really changed my life, it's hard to say. But I think that Tarkovsky's films have changed the way I look at the art of filmmaking and the unique things that you can do with film. His movies may have to take a couple viewings and also, be blessed to be watching his movies, because I don't think there will ever be another Andrei Tarkovsky.

"Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream". - Ingmar Bergman



- Ryan