Stalker

Rating:
Summary: Simply Superior !
Review: Tarkovsky's "Stalker" is certainly among my top 10 films list (but below Solaris.)

It seems to me that some viewers miss the point because they expect Hollywood type of action such as car-chases etc. Tarkovsky and I guess all great directors make films that one understands not after merely watching the screen and asking questions such as "Hey, why doesn't this director/film entertain me ?" but after watching & thinking & observing.

When I first watched "Stalker" I did not get anything. I watched it again 6 months later and...bullseye !

Rating:
Summary: oh man, this is how it is supposed to be done
Review: What is great about this film (and, indeed, all of Tarkovsky's films from 'Solaris' on), is his portrayal of time. In most films, time is abbreviated, eliminating all but the essential devices of plot. But with Tarkovsky, the characters exist in time as it truly is. If someone is thinking before he makes a statement, we see his deliberations, not a jump cut to his face, then the statement. Time is real, here. And the film itself acts as an externalized psychology of its characters. All the doubt and uncertainty of Scientist and Writer as to the reasons they have entered The Zone, are not just spoken, they are manifested onscreen. Tarkovsky's films represent that which is possible in art and life, but which is rarely explored.

Rating:
Summary: Unbeliveble, this movie changed my concept of movies.
Review: I've seen this movie sometimes and everytime i see it, it has "changed" a litle bit. I don't only mean that cliche of good movies where there's always something else to see, Stalker is living movie it's so intense, emotional, that talks to you as you see it. Ok it's slow, but in video you can always stop it and start to see it later. Has the best photography i've ever seen. It,s the movie that made me continue to study cinema. Sorry about my english it's very rusty it'been sometime since i don't use it. AVE Tarkovisky CINEMA.

Rating:
Summary: The title STALKER is misunderstood
Review: The title STALKER is quite misunderstood because many think it is a translation from a Russian word that means 'to stalk.'. Actually Tarkovsky's script inserted the word STALKER thinking it was a catchy English equivalent for something like a Russian pathfinder or guide. In that context, the central character's role is better understood, for he spends time leading the writer and scientist toward discovery and revelation, which they ultimately cannot achieve. STALKER is a masterpiece of imposed reality on the viewer. Make no mistake: this film is very difficult to stay with without your utmost attention. Little artifice, few physical elements, hardly any plot, STALKER exists as a journey that draws your mind, heart, and soul into the nature of human existence. Only those intelligent and sensitive enough to ride Tarkovsky's waves of feeling, emotion, and thought can comprehend his message of possible salvation and redemption through love and persistent searching for human truth. The writing on the video box implies this is another sci fi film, but clearly it is not. Tarkovsky's great films are mythical allegories in the tradition of Pilgrim's Progress or Piers Plowman. For me, Tarkovsky is the ultimate challenge in intellectual film making, because he presents and discusses his ideas only in the context of the film itself, not just as a media vehicle to speak. What strikes me most is his absolutely consistent sense of pace in all his films: slow, deliberate, but fluid and highly organic. He is one of the few great masters of film as an art form.

Rating:
Summary: a film made for LOOKING and THINKING
Review: As the one-star review below indicates, this film isn't for everyone, especially Americans weaned on LETHAL WEAPON, FACE OFF, or CON-AIR. As is the case with all Tarkovsky's films (especially NOSTALGHIA, my favorite), each scene here is laid out as a tableau to linger over meticulously, and the subject matter is profoundly spiritual. As always, Tarkovsky is broaching the uneasy subject of faith and intellect. (Pay special attention, near the end of the film, to the background in the scene where the "stalker" anguishes over the writer's and physicist's lack of faith.) Tarkovsky is as essential to serious late 20th-Century film as Bergman, and may actually have a more visible (technical) influence on popular contemporary directors: Wim Wenders (his earlier, better films), Ridley Scott (his earlier, better films), and even someone as whacky as Tim Burton.

Rating:
Summary: film that explores the entire mindset of human being
Review: this is a film which justifies the medium of cinem

Rating:
Summary: Among the Best Films ever made
Review: This is my favorite film by Andrei Tarkovsky, one of cinemas true auteurs. It is an engaging, thoughtful, challenging, and masterful artistic achievement.

Rating:
Summary: one of the worst films ever made
Review: The badness of this movie is beyond belief. It is several hours of a bunch of guys wandering around in a field. Really. Sometimes one of them says, oh no, don't go that way--if you do all kinds of terrible things will happen. But evidently the film makers didn't budget for any actual terrible things.

Rating:
Summary: Stalker -- Make your own interpretation (Mansoor)
Review: This is one of the best works Trakovsky where he uses the images so beautilfully that for a person who has the patience to watch the whole movie the images and dialogue are unforgettable. I watched this movie before 'Solaris' and at first was taken aback by the fact that this was not a 'conventional' science fiction(the box cover is also somewhat misleading). But once through the movie, I realised how much better it was just because it was not conventional. A movie that actually compels the viewer to think!! The use of black and white instead of color and the extended scenes create a suspense which could only have been achieved by a director like Andrei Trakovsky. In the end the story line can be interpretted as deeply theological and may be even gloomy but for true art movie lovers this is a treat not to be missed. When seeing the movie look for the scene when we are shown the 'stalker's' daughter walking and what turns out is shocking as well as a reminder of what Trakovsky is capable of. Enjoy

Rating:
Summary: The height of filmmaking
Review: I'll add a few incidental comments to the raves others have given. This film is a highly abstracted rendition of Arkady & Boris Strugatsky's novella "Roadside Picnic" (and contrary to the official synopsis, an alien visitation creates the Zone rather than a meteorite.) The title implies Clarke's notion that any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from magic; the aliens' random trash is beyond our comprehension. That's just plot device, though, for Tarkovsky's moody portrayal of our inner lives. This is an incredibly atmospheric film with an "industrial" (in the pre-techno sense) soundtrack, and it also inspired a worthwhile CD by composer Robert Rich. Btw, I won't mind if they lose the lurid cover if, and hopefully when, this is issued on DVD...