It is impossible to understand and appreciate the films of Andrei Tarkovsky without taking into account the spiritual and artistic context in which the formation of the creative personality of the director took place.
The greatest analyzer of the inner world
Andrei Tarkovsky’s films are full of quotes from the classics of Russian literature, the heroes of his works at critical moments of their existence find the courage to delve inside themselves in search of answers that give meaning to their life. The legendary director was deservedly named one of the greatest artists in the description of the inner world of man. The creative elite considers Tarkovsky’s great merit to be the expression of the cinematic language of immersion into the depths of himself, which has been repeatedly described in Russian works of art. In the modern world, the layman has ceased to “peer” inside himself, which is why Andrei Tarkovsky’s films, after a long period of time after being released, retain their original depth and charm. Therefore, they are so dear to the viewer, in which the need to understand the meaning of their existence, purpose is still burning.
The beginning of the creative path
The short film “Skating Rink and Violin” - a graduation project of a novice stage director - received a grand prix at the Student Film Festival in New York. After such a breakthrough, Tarkovsky worked for some time at the Soviet film studio Mosfilm. He was a screenwriter and co-author of a mass of films: adventure - “One chance out of a thousand”, criminal - “Beware! Snakes! ”,“ Antarctica - a far country ”, animated -“ Hoffmannian ”, etc. Andrey tried himself in acting as an actor, starring in the films“ Sergey Lazo ”and“ I am 20 years old ”.
But world recognition and fame was brought to Tarkovsky by the first full-length film "Ivan Childhood". Having taken up the production of the picture, the young director first of all radically changed the traditional version of the adaptation of the story “Ivan” by V. Bogomolov, while the wise writer could not resist the pressure of the young director. The picture was perceived in the West in an existential manner, describing it as a narrative of a breakdown in the consciousness of a child who survived the “deadline” - the last line between life and death. In the USSR, film critics of all stripes deliberately emphasized the tragic and heroic pathos of the story of a young scout, sometimes ignoring the anti-war orientation of the tape.
Warnings from the past
Further films by Tarkovsky all without exception became significant events in the cultural life of the state, exerting a noticeable influence on the spiritual development of society. The painting "Andrei Rublev" is the most recognized work of the director, she was included in the list of the best creations of world cinema, highly regarded by those artists who do not accept other creations of the great Russian director. Without exception, film critics, domestic and foreign, noted the unconditionally innovative approach to the genre of historical and biographical cinema. The life path of the great icon painter served as a starting point for the creative search and thoughts of the director about the fate of the creators of Russia.
The saving bitterness of nostalgia
A special place in the filmography of the director is occupied by films created based on the works of outstanding contemporary science fiction writers (the Strugatsky brothers and Stanislav Lem) - “Stalker” and “Solaris”. After these films by Andrei Tarkovsky were released, almost all filmmakers began to look for secret implications, attributing the films to encrypted allegories. Although if you try to distract yourself from the external content of the paintings and compare them with "Nostalgia", then these three projects seem to line up in a single trilogy about returning to the original sources, finding a home and the saving bitterness of nostalgia.
Multifaceted meaning
“Solaris” is a film full of numerous allegories and symbols that are quite difficult for an unprepared viewer to understand. The director deliberately uses the monotonous plot narrative, in which long angles play a dominant role. The thing is that with prolonged contemplation of such scenes, the viewer unknowingly joins in meditation. The body of the beholder after such episodes begins to react more sharply to any changes. It is just after two hours of timing that the characters of the characters who pronounce profound dialogues are revealed to us. It turns out that Solaris is a meditation film in which a trained viewer will be able to recognize and absorb the grandiose multifaceted meaning of the narrative.
Fantastic Existential Parable
"Stalker" is a film-parable by Andrei Tarkovsky, combining simplicity and clarity of form (using elements of Russian fairy tales) with a philosophical background and a strikingly complex depth of thought. The external plot of the picture is an excursion to the Zone, where there is supposedly a magic room that fulfills any desire (a steady fairy tale motif). But the story reveals a bottomless and, accordingly, complex metaphorical subtext. "Stalker" is a film about the search for happiness, the sacred search for faith. In the end, the plot seems to be unraveled, while it is false. The magic room is an artistic metaphor, in fact, the characters are busy finding themselves - this is the main thing.
"Boris" Tarkovsky - the world of ideas, images
Andrei Tarkovsky in 1983 staged Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov on the Covent Garden stage. Thanks to the meticulous efforts of London like-minded people Tarkovsky - a creative group of artists and directors - in 1990 she came to life in St. Petersburg. In the opera staging of Tarkovsky, the tragedy of the tsar and the tragedy of the people were drawn closer together more than ever.