The Greatest Director in the World Would've Been 83 Today

I am going to take a break from geopolitics for today and tell you about my personal favorite director- Andrei Tarkovsky. It should be no surprise, at this point, that my favorite director would be Russian. Therefore, I must point out that my opinion, in this case, is completely uninfluenced by nationality. This being said, I think that Tarkovsky is the best of the best. In the case that you have never heard of him, he was the creative mastermind behind Solaris, Stalker, The Mirror, Anderi Rublev, The Sacrifice, Ivan's Childhood, and many more. These titles probably mean nothing to you, but each film holds an innovative edge that launch them miles above their competitors. This edge was Tarkovsky's cinematography.

If Tarkovsky was known for one thing, it would be his cinematography. This was his incredible talent, his contribution to the world, the revolutionary ability which would hardly be used again. This was his life. Tarkovsky was the most brilliant director of all time because he directed films which became like books. The images were projected, and they were moving. They were, however, open to the imagination. The level of symbolism present and the delicate balance between detail and vagueness in each frame allowed imagination to run at full capacity. It was like watching a book because the words of a book, like the frames of a Tarkovsky film, are there to dictate direction and fact, but beyond that, there is nothing to demand that the reader/audience member interpret anything in one particular way. He, himself, called his film style 'sculpting in time.'  To build upon this incredible technique, the plots of his movies often contained contemplative themes on various topics which were philosophical in nature. These topics ranged from war to faith to loss and far beyond. For example, here is a scene from the film Stalker (Сталкер) which shows a prime example of a standard Tarkovsky monologue.

Of course, such ramblings may come across as just that-- ramblings. The greatness of Tarkovsky and his work can either be accepted or rejected on simple listening skills. As Solzhenitsyn pointed out in The Gulag, "One thing is absolutely definite: not everything that enters our ears penetrates our consciousness. Anything too far out of tune with our attitude is lost, either in the ears themselves or somewhere beyond, but is lost." One must be interested in the subject matter to fully appreciate the content of the films. However, given that the truths of existence and of humanity are often deeply interwoven with the simpler outcroppings called 'exploration' or 'war' or 'science,' everyone with appreciation for the purest wisdom cannot be anything but enthralled by a Tarkovsky film. This being said, it is understandable for many people who watch movies to unwind or to be entertained by senseless, far-fetched, meaningless plots may find Tarkovsky's style to be unappealing. This is where the nationality matters. Tarkovsky would never have succeeded in Hollywood. Where his movies were blockbusters in the Soviet Union, they would never have even been in theaters in the US. Such a difference is an unfortunate reality to me, but I cannot fault the US for having different tastes. Truthfully, Tarkovky's movies were slow. They required one to be patient and thoughtful. Two things which the average American would probably rather not do while watching a movie. To an American, such as myself, Tarkovsky is an acquired taste. However, it took one film for me to be blown away, and only one more to call Tarkovsky my favorite all-time director. Because of this, I would like for American readers to give him a chance before going back to watching hundreds of near-identical Hollywood assembly-line products.

Time to reign this back in. Another of Tarkovsky's incredible feats were his common transitions between black-and-white and color. The crushing reality of this skill was that he only had the budget for limited amounts of color while producing most of his films. Tarkovsky, however, being the brilliant mastermind that he was, used the transitions to symbolize oppression vs freedom, the past vs the present, dreams, and the vibrancy of creation vs the dullness of the everyday. But this brings up another point about Tarkovsky's greatness-- his ability to create his visions without the enormous budgets allotted to modern-day filmmakers. For example, Stalker (my favorite and one of Tarkovsky's favorites) had a budget of 1,000,000 Soviet Rubles which amounts to around $659,000 in modern day USD. With such a small budget, he shot a total masterpiece. This was a science-fiction film which was fully on-location, the original take was accidentally destroyed, there were barely any special effects, and CGI wasn't even a possibility at the time. Stalker was a masterpiece despite all of this.

In addition to his prowess of budgetary control, his choice of cast and production were always spot on. Tarkovsky favored actors, such as Anatoly Solonitsyn and Nikolai Grinko, who performed the perfect balance between drama and realism. They were always sensible as to when a scene needed realistic responses or unnatural ones. Tarkovsky, himself, declared Solonitsyn as his favorite actor, and he intended that Solonitsyn perform a lead role in each of his movies. The evidence of Tarkovsky's optimal picks was easily seen on the television screen. In addition, Tarkovsky favored a little-known composer by the name of Eduard Artemyev, who was a pioneer in synthesized music. The great thing about musicians is that I don't have to sit here and tell you about how great they are, because you can simply listen. Artemyev composed some amazing music and ambiance for Solaris, Stalker, Siberiade, At Home Among Strangers, and his own work. Tarkovsky truly was a director who managed everything so close to his own vision that he was able to project it at an unprecedented level. He did so not by himself, but by thoroughly dictating it to his crew members. His companions were fully inspired by his vision and sought to honor it to the best of their abilities. I would like to end this remembrance of the greatest director of all time with an interview with Artemyev and a quote from Ingmar Bergman.

"Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [of us all], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream."-Ingmar Bergman. 

(Swedish Director)

RIP ANDREI TARKOVSKY 1932-1986

---Katyń Massacre---

In addition to Tarkovsky's birthday, today is the 75th anniversary of the Katyń Massacre. In case you aren't yet tired of reading, I recommend that you educate yourself on this horrible event. Articles can be found here and here. There was also a movie made, titled simply "Katyń," which was well-produced and drew favorable reviews. The IMDB information can be found here. There is a low quality version available on Youtube if you are interested which can be found here. Lastly, tomorrow is Easter so try to be happy and don't let these remembrances drag you down! Happy Easter everyone!