Aznavour Plays Ukraine
Ivan's Childhood (1962)
directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
The truth is, I still identify Stalker as "one of my favorites," in spite of only having seen it once five years ago. Most of the time those blasts from the past don't hold up so well, so I try to be less dogmatic than I used to be. What I cling to with Tarkovsky is my memory of empty spaces - steppes, chapels, arctic islands - into which the director casts lone, observant souls. I remember the occasional face from his films - maybe because the covers of DVDs tend to feature them - but the faces, the actors, are not what I remember most.
That is what separates Ivan's Childhood from what came after. It is a kid movie first, and a Tarkovsky movie second, insofar as the human emotions that are usually pushed out into the mirror of forests and still waters must find a more immediate purchase in the eyes and actions of a boy. As a movie about growing up, it has as much in common with Dazed and Confused as the history of Russia's eastern front. That makes it perhaps less unique - after all, there are lots of movies about children - but then again, what's better than Dazed and Confused? The 400 Blows? Over the Edge? Not much.
directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
The truth is, I still identify Stalker as "one of my favorites," in spite of only having seen it once five years ago. Most of the time those blasts from the past don't hold up so well, so I try to be less dogmatic than I used to be. What I cling to with Tarkovsky is my memory of empty spaces - steppes, chapels, arctic islands - into which the director casts lone, observant souls. I remember the occasional face from his films - maybe because the covers of DVDs tend to feature them - but the faces, the actors, are not what I remember most.
That is what separates Ivan's Childhood from what came after. It is a kid movie first, and a Tarkovsky movie second, insofar as the human emotions that are usually pushed out into the mirror of forests and still waters must find a more immediate purchase in the eyes and actions of a boy. As a movie about growing up, it has as much in common with Dazed and Confused as the history of Russia's eastern front. That makes it perhaps less unique - after all, there are lots of movies about children - but then again, what's better than Dazed and Confused? The 400 Blows? Over the Edge? Not much.
posted by NPK at 7:45 AM
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