Rating: 
Summary: Take a careful look at page 100
Review: Sculpting in Time will be appreciated by people who like his films. It was nice to read Tarkovsky's own words on what is important. Tarkovsky gives important clues to understanding his art without destroying it through overanalysis.In some instances the text is ambiguous in relationship to the films. Gorchakov (from Nostalghia) is apparently deceased in the picture captioned "after the struggle". The still is taken before the struggle in the movie. He was only napping. The movie leaves you in doubt about the fate of Gorchakov but the book doesn't. But these puzzles only add to the mystery of the films. One should turn to mathematics for clarity and consistency. This is something else. I especially liked the miniature landscape in Domenico's house that extends to the horizon. The still shots that were selected from the movies have a resonant quality and recall the emotions from the films. The picture of Margharita Terekhova on page 100 is a perfect photographic composition. But look closer at the expression of the eyes and the position of the hands. The picture bears an incredible resemblance to some Russian icons of the Madonna. My only critical comment is that I wish the book included more about the making of Solaris. Tarkovsky was a modern film maker with the soul of a Russion icon painter from ages past. He is calling to emotions that lie dormant in humanity but should be heeded.
Rating:
Summary: Take a careful look at page 100
Review: Sculpting in Time will be appreciated by people who like his films. It was nice to read Tarkovsky's own words on what is important. Tarkovsky gives important clues to understanding his art without destroying it through overanalysis. In some instances the text is ambiguous in relationship to the films. Gorchakov (from Nostalghia) is apparently deceased in the picture captioned "after the struggle". The still is taken before the struggle in the movie. He was only napping. The movie leaves you in doubt about the fate of Gorchakov but the book doesn't. But these puzzles only add to the mystery of the films. One should turn to mathematics for clarity and consistency. This is something else. I especially liked the miniature landscape in Domenico's house that extends to the horizon. The still shots that were selected from the movies have a resonant quality and recall the emotions from the films. The picture of Margharita Terekhova on page 100 is a perfect photographic composition. But look closer at the expression of the eyes and the position of the hands. The picture bears an incredible resemblance to some Russian icons of the Madonna. My only critical comment is that I wish the book included more about the making of Solaris. Tarkovsky was a modern film maker with the soul of a Russion icon painter from ages past. He is calling to emotions that lie dormant in humanity but should be heeded.
Rating:
Summary: It is the most comprehensive book about Tarkovsky's cinema.
Review: SCULPTING IN TIME, gives the reader an intimate invitation into the mind of filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky. In this single, slim volume, Tarkovsky gives penetrating insight into his conceptualization of cinema as an art form. Although he does not refer to all of his films, one finds detailed information concerning his approach to cinematic form and why his films are so different and affecting. Tarkovksy, speculates on the role of the artist in today's world. He points the direction that others who may want to enter into the cinematic arts should go. Most importantly, one gets an engrossing look at the aspects of the cinema that define it as an artform outside of literature, painting, and the theatre. It is a profound book and one that you will find yourself re-reading again and again. It is to be cherished.
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Summary: Genius
Review: Tarkovsky is a genius. Anyone interested in film of any kind should read this book. Utterly inspirational. Truth Spirituality, artistically expressed through film.
Rating:
Summary: Instant Light
Review: Thames & Hudson have triumphed with what collectors might regard as a limited edition, artist's book.This isn't the place to start chipping into Tarkovsky. It is more the devotee's piece - a touchstone which alludes to the magnificent ediface of his films: all which return the viewer to their world with a deeper, more spacious vision, an expanded present moment. In 'Rubelov','Solaris', 'Stalker', and,'Sacrifice', to name my favourites, he re-invented the epic with sustained inquiries into our transience without heady verbalism or vanity. To grapple with his own thinking about his achievements and how he positioned himself as an artist, one should seek out,'Sculpting In Time,'penned towards the end of his relatively short life. Recently, French documentary-maker, Chris Marker('Sunless') compiled a stunning homage to this Russian cinematic master. Bits of Tarkovsky's aforementioned book, and excerpts from his diaries appear with the reproduced polaroid snaps(the present book's theme)which fall into two geographic zones, Italy & Russia and are bookended with short tributes by two Italian friends. Every effort has been made in layout to convey the darkened atmosphere in which the illuminated materiality of these world's float to the viewer's eye. And in images barely larger than matchboxes this scale has some of the hallucinatory power of his movies. The layout & medium insist on episodic, fragmentary framing. Tarkovsky's films privilege the same exquisite framing with a sensual appetite for textures above narratives that makes us feel newly arrived at a primary experiencing of the world. These polaroids could have served as his flexing towards film projects: even their outtakes.
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Summary: An Essential Book about Film
Review: The idea behind the title of the book is that the film-goer goes to the cinema to experience time, and that the director's job is to sculpt the time that the audience experiences-- cut away the inessential words and seconds and pieces. This book is an introduction to the rules that Tarkovsky set for himself in achieving this goal. The book covers his thoughts around a wide range of his films, beginning with "Ivan's Childhood" and finally ending with "The Sacrifice". On the way he covers his view of various aspects (both concrete and philisophical) of the cinema. Other chapter titles include "Cinema's destined role" and "The author in search of an audience". The book is beautifully written and the ideas are important and relevant. It's useful on the level of the student learning film techniques (he provides some wonderful examples of the difference in how major and minor directors handle the same character moments in different films. It's also useful as a book about the philosophy of art in general (and cinema, obviously, in specific).
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Summary: This is a great book!
Review: This book changed my mind. It changed my way to think about Art. Thanks Tarkovsky.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: This book changed my mind. It changed my way to think Art. Thanks Tarkovsky.
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Summary: insights from a genius
Review: This extraordinary book is not just about filmmaking, it's about all art...about life, faith, inner exploration and the Russian soul. It contains exquisite poetry, mostly written by his father, Arseniy Tarkovsky, and detailed descriptions of the making of several of his films as well as photos of them that are eerie, mystical, and incredibly beautiful. Tarkovsky is the master of making us see the wonder of creation in the most mundane subjects. He brings us one step closer in our journey towards the light. From page 43: "The allotted function of art is not, as is often assumed, to put across ideas, to propagate thoughts, to serve as an example. The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good".
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