Ива́ново де́тство (Ivan's Childhood) (1962)

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Writers:  Vladimir Bogomolov, Mikhail Papav 
Cinematographer: Vadim Yusov
Cast: Kolya Burlyayev,  V. Zubkov, Ye. Zharikov, S. Krylov 
Language: Russian

The film tells the story of a young orphan boy and his experiences in world war two. It is based on Vladimir Bogomolov's short story 'Ivan'.

Even though the title and poster of the film might make you think of it as something in the mould of 'Come and See', it is not similar. Yes it does show the terrible things that come with wars, mainly through surreal dream like sequences about Ivan's childhood, but the film doesn't focus too much on that. Ivan is treated like a mythic character who comes in and out of the film. He is someone who is employed by the red army on a scouting/spying mission in enemy territory. His motivation is revenge against the 'Fritzs' for making him an orphan. He had been with the partisans previously.

The other characters in the film are the officers in the army who handles and take care of Ivan when he is back. Much of the story focuses on two of these officers, one is a captain and the other a lieutenant. It also involves a love triangle and a setpiece flirtation scene from which the above iconic image is taken. That whole scene is filmed in a mesmeric way.

Andrei Tarkovsky made his directorial debut with Ivan's Childhood. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival and established Tarkovsky immediately as one of the main directors of the era. It is not a typical Tarkovsky film as it is quite straightforward. Tarkovsky later expressed his misgivings about some of the decisions he made for the film but it is a great watch nevertheless. It is cited by the likes of Ingmar Bergman, Kieslowski etc as a very influential film.

Rating: 4.5/5

Zerkalo (The Mirror) (1975)

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Writers:  Aleksandr Misharin, Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast:      Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovsky, Ignat Daniltsev
Language:Russian

A dying man in 40s reminisces about his childhood, mother, war etc through dreams, flashbacks, archive footage and memories interspersed with poetry through his own voice. The film is loosely autobiographical as Tarkovsky himself was raised by his mother after his father left them when he was four. 

In his dreams he sees his ex-wife as his mother. As with people who are raised by their mothers, the relationship is complex and sometimes conflicted with the amount of control that tends to be exerted. One can also add Oedipus complex to this equation as well. The film covers pre-second world war period, war period, post war period and the contemporary era and we get a sense of Russian history through it. The News footage also covers things like Cultural revolution in China. There is also one reference to Russian isolation from the west due to the division in Christianity. 

Protagonists were forced to move from Moscow to their grandfather's house in the country due to war. The girls from his life comes frequently in his memories/dreams but most of the time anachronistically. The contemporary scenes are shot point of view and the film as a whole is a visual experience. Tarkovsky working in Russia didn't have any obligation that his films should make money and I guess only under such a circumstance would such films come out. This being a very personal film was not something the Soviet Authority was a fan of and it got a very limited number of screenings in Russia. It was also not allowed to compete at Cannes because they feared that it will win the top prize. I saw it for the first time about five years back and couldn't make much sense of it. This time round I found it to be more accessible and should be discovering new things when I revisit it again. It is a very difficult film to describe.

Rating: 4.5/5

Offret (The Sacrifice) (1986)

Director:Andrey Tarkovskiy
Writer:  Andrey Tarkovskiy
Cast:     Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood
Language: Swedish
At the dawn of WW3 a man searches for a way to restore peace to the world and finds he must give something in return.

This is Tarkovskiy's last film and was shot in Sweden while he was battling with cancer. He was a great admirer of Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman and you can see that influence in this film. The first hour can be an ordeal and would need multiple viewing to fully appreciate it. Didn't find it as compelling as his other films like Stalker, Solyaris, Nostalghia etc.

Rating: 3.5/5 

Nostalghia (1983)

Director:   Andrei Tarkovskiy
Writers:    Andrei Tarkovskiy, Tonino Guerra
Language: Russina & Italian
The Russian poet Gortachakov, accompanied by the translator Eugene, is travelling through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer. In a Tuscani town he meets a lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his family for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. He gets drawn to the lunatic while Eugene is drawn to him. In between through a series of dreams we see his nostalgia for his homeland and longing for his wife.

As is with Trakovsky films, its very slowly paced and we pieces together the story very gradually. Beethoven's 9th symphony is used prominently along with works from Verdi and Wagner. The last scene of the films when the poet tries to move across the spa pond with a candle is taken in a single shot.

This is the second last film from Tarkovsky and first one made outside Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities prevented the film from winning Palme d'Or and Tarkovsky vowed to never make a film in Soviet Union.

Rating: 4/5

Stalker (Сталкер) (1979)

Director:      Andrei Tarkovskiy
Writers:       Arkadi Strugatsky,Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic, Andrei Tarkovskiy
Language: Russian
In an unnamed city where there is an area called Zone which is guarded by soldiers. Its a place where Stalkers are people who guides those who want to intrude into the zone persumably because a myth exists that one could get his inner wishes granted in a room there. The use of color is very good in the film and as it is with Tarkovsky films it deals with philosophical questions.


Rating: 4.5/5

Solyaris (Solaris) (1972)

Director:   Andrei Tarkovskiy
Writers:    Stainslaw Lem (Novel), Fridrikh Gorenshtein, Andrei Tarkovskiy
Language: Russian
Compared to other Tarkovsky films I have seen (The Mirror, Andrei Rublev), Solyaris is more accessible. Its a stroy of a Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) who travels to the space station orbiting the Oceanic planet Solyaris where the scientist crew has fallen into emotional crisis. When he gets there he encounters his ex-wife Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk), who had died ten years ago by committing suicide. The film does not use much special effects compared to other sci-fi films and is like a meditative film about reality.

Rating: 4/5