I’ve seen it about 3 times. First time, I was in my late teens, borrowed from video store because the box art was flashy and said it was a great post-apocalyptic vision like Blade Runner.
Boy did they LIE!! Stalker was a boring, slow as slugs film that was nothing like Blade Runner. At all! Just three guys wandering a field, looking at rusty objects and make-believing there is something dangerous or mystical afoot. Nope. Just fluffy clouds and random weeds. I kid you not. It annoyed me to be so deceived and taught me a lesson about commercialism.
That said, I still detected something uncanny in Tarkovsky’s style. I’ve since watched more of his films and even revisited Stalker. I do wonder what the original film looked like, not this total reshoot that really forces the viewer to mentally imagine things that aren’t there and that the actors don’t really convey. But that’s Russian cinema for you.
For what it’s worth, I do like Nostalghia a lot. Solaris was good, too.
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Reply by rooprect
on December 29, 2021 at 7:39 AM
I have a personal gripe with Tarkovsky (lighting a cow on fire, shooting a horse to death on camera, wins awards) so take this with a grain--a mountain--of salt. But my personal loathing of Tarkovsky aside, I was also really disappointed in this film. Solaris was ok though a bit heavy handed. I have a long running competition to see if anyone can explain the significance of a 2 min closeup of a guy's ear. Winner gets a bowl of Borscht.
Reply by tmdb53400018
on December 29, 2021 at 6:42 PM
Is it good?… I think not. I really struggled to keep paying attention to the film when watching it, and I didn’t feel any reward at the end for doing so. I’d take Mirror or even Solaris by the man over this anytime.
Reply by catmydogs
on December 29, 2021 at 7:50 PM
I do like the concept of Stalker, but I don’t think it quite worked. I think in some ways Anihilation with Natalie Portman tried to update the concept but didn’t work either.