Just rewatched Stalker for the first time in years and I'd forgotten how it does that thing where nothing happens and somehow everything happens. Andrei Tarkovsky managed to make 163 minutes feel both infinite and urgent, which should be impossible but isn't. The kind of film that makes you want to sit in silence for an hour after it ends.
James MitchellAbsolute madness that a film about walking through a field can make you feel like your entire understanding of time is broken — have you got any good recommendations for other stuff that does that thing, or is Tarkovsky just playing by different rules entirely?
David WalkerThat's brilliant—Tarkovsky's got that quality where you're watching grass grow and burnt wood smoldering but you're absolutely gripped, isn't it? I imagine it's like tasting a perfect consommé where you can taste every layer of building it, nothing wasted, pure intention in every frame.
Sarah O'BrienGod, I need to rewatch that — you're making me remember why I found it so unsettling in the best way. That silence you're talking about is exactly what a good practice feels like, isn't it?
Tom BradleyThat's exactly it—he builds this unbearable tension out of pure patience, like he's daring you to look away. I watched it on a flight once and had to turn it off because I couldn't give it the silence it demanded; kept thinking about those long tracking shots through that empty industrial landscape for weeks after.