7/15/15
3/4
Solaris was tough. It shared much of Stalker's visual ambiguity, but had a more difficult premise and inner content. In most ways, it was a lot like that later Tarkovsky film. Style-wise and plot-wise, Stalker and Solaris are very close sister-films. Solaris also mirrored 2001 in some ways, of course.
But taken on its own, the film exhibited the strong theoretically-driven style of Tarkovsky, who takes an esoteric but moderate story and abstracts it to otherworldly levels. If these two films can represent the rest, he has a distinct style-- as singular as Bergman. Solaris could not have been made by anyone else into the film that it is, and while I don't understand it, I do believe in its greatness.
As for my experience, I will say that my subjectivity cannot yet cope with Tarkovsky. While it is not altogether unenjoyable (and in fact, Stalker passed me nicely), it is definitely inaccessible. However, I am intrigued by the compelling imagery, which is the essence of Tarkovsky's artistry. These bold strokes make me much more likely to hang on to these films, revisit them, and ultimately save a spot for them in my catalogue. I do believe that eventually I will really like these films-- probably Stalker over Solaris, due to its relative atmosphere and characters, but both are highly-valuable cinematic experiences because of their intense originality and definitive artistic greatness.
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