One of the best parts about science fiction movies is that they are rarely about science. 2001 does not try and guess what the future will look like, but is more concerned about what is truly the difference between man and his makers. Blade Runner is not about robots but about the importance of memories. Even a more recent film like Sunshine is not a cautionary tale about the sun dying but a morality play in which people are forced to take the role of God. (more…)
Somehow surviving Andrei Rublev’s 3 and a half hour running time thanks to some beautiful cinematography and a truly moving story of faith, and skipping the also daunting 3 hour of Solyaris, having seen it before (but now in need of a second viewing), I went into Tarkovsky’s The Mirror with anticipation. Being an autobiographical adaptation of his own life, how would the Russian genius approach his own life story? In a wild adaptation like Fellini in 8 1/2 or with the thrills and madness of Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz? (more…)
After a brief whirlwind experience last night with Ivan’s Childhood, I comfortably sat down in my seat this afternoon for the next film in my marathon with the Andrei Tarkovsky marathon at Lincoln Center which I playing this week. But the fun of Ivan’s Childhood—the fast paced Hitchcockian editing combined with the surreal quality in a stark world—was soon gone in Andrei Rublev, the second film in Tarkovsky’s canon. This was not a mysteriously clever WWII flick. This was a 205 minute (or three and a half hour) meditation on the life of a 15th century Russian monk/painter. Things did not look good. (more…)
Nothing can really prepare you for Ivan’s Childhood, the first feature from director Andrei Tarkovsky, which played today on the opening of the Lincoln Center’s retrospective on him (and will play again on Saturday). I had only scene small clips, but the feature as a whole is something of another nature. Its beauty is in its horror—its a stark portrait of war. Yet at the same time, Tarkovsky’s technical craft is running in full force. (more…)
If the hyper-speed confusion of Trasnformers 2 is simply not providing you with your summer entertainment, it may be time to head over to Lincoln Center for something a little slower. (more…)
