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Summary: possibly the greatest film ever made
Review: if not the best, certainly the most beautifu
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Summary: magnificent!
Review: It is probably one of the finest history movies I have ever seen. By taking highly subjective "through the eyes of the hero" approach, film shows Russian history (or medieval one) like no other one. It's one powerfull rebuff to believers of the "glorious past" rubbish. Outstanding cinematography and acting.
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Summary: news for the animal-conscious
Review: in maya tourovskaya's book on tarkovsky, the animal cruelty issue was raised in an interview with tamara ogorodnikova, who produced 'andrei rublev': "my god, mayechka, it is only a movie!" she explicitly stated that no animals were harmed in the filming process, and that the burning cow sequence was achieved through special effects and asbestos. the cow scene never made the 183-minute cut because tarkovsky felt it looked unrealistic. acceptance of this disclaimer is your prerogative, but disclaimers are all most of us ever really have. o, and the film? it doesn't sound great and the stock doesn't seem to have aged well, but tarkovsky's intensely poetic vision and vyacheslav ovchinnikov's unforgettable score cannot be denied. like literary counterparts dostoevsky and tolstoy, tarkovsky has a sweeping, epic vision that can seem daunting at times (203 minutes is pretty long). while some may find it interminably and excruciatingly slow, i like to think that tarkovsky has enough respect for the audience to take his time and allow the viewer to settle into the experience. it's not just a great visual and audio document or merely a powerful story - 'andrei rublev' is a gestalt experience, requiring and rewarding total immersion on your part. watch it alone or with someone who's comfortable enough with you to shut up for a few hours. you'll be glad you did.
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Summary: RUINED BY ANIMAL CRUELITY
Review: I was really looking foward to this film as i have enjoyed SOLARIS, THE MIRROR and many other russian films so much. Everything you,ve read about the magnificents of this film is true,it is one of the most striking,poetic and beautiful looking films ive seen period, however i must say thatiam utterly repulsed by the three barbaric acts of animal torture , Seeing a cow running around its enclosure after being set on fire, a horse fall down some steps , breaking its leg and then have a spear shoved through its throat
and a dog being beaten to death and watching its final twitching
make this film ultimi unwatchable ..is this art??is this excusable??Do you think this is okay? these are the most repulsive and distrurbing scenes i have ever seen in a movie. I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS I DETEST ANIMAL CRUELTY/TORTURE, ESPECIALLY SIMPLY TO MAKE A FILM.....im shocked that so many of your reveiwers did not mention this..Please , someone tell me i wrong and that these scenes did not really happen for real
and its all trickery..
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Summary: Tarkovsy's finest achievment
Review: Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev" is his finest achievement. An epic masterpiece set in medieval Rus, Soviet officials originally butchered it cutting out almost an hour of it's content. Rublev is the cinematic equal to the great novels of our time. The idealism of an artist, then monk, is confronted by the ravages of the era. His response to his environment and his final reconciliation is itself a part of the story. There are so many scenes of beauty, imagery and stark violence that are so well done and so detailed that it will leave the thoughtful viewer wondering what other movie is Rublev's equal. The scene of the slaughter of the pagans is cruel and beautiful at the same time. This is art as cinema and not for every viewer. Tarkovsky relies on the viewer intelligence and on the viewers own ability to make his/her mind up on their own understanding of the film. Like all of Tarkovsky's films he never makes it easy for his viewers. He assumes intelligence and a willingness your part to find meanings. One of the greatest films ever made and very, very Russian.
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Summary: All other movies are straw!!!
Review: Yes, I think I have already summed up how I feel about this movie. Not everyone is inclined to agree. But I must say this movie hits the jackpot as it has great character portrayals that can be applied to people from novels or real-life. The many groups represented in the film range from the nobility (a major social moving force as twin princes struggling for power), the religious (with the three main monks representing various attitudes toward religion), the pagans, and finally the artists. The 3 main monks are 1) the talented but confused Andrei Rublev, 2) the mediocre and self-righteous Kirill, and 3) the quiet and focused Danil. The artists Theophanes, Foma, and Boriska really keep the movie in focus just as a real art director of the movie would do. Their attitudes toward faith and art are what helps the viewer understand Rublev's own attitudes toward faith and art. Though Rublev is the main character, he is at many times in the background. The viewer is after all, meant to become Rublev, and therefore Rublev is less visual. Brilliant device by Tarkovsky! And finally other characters not to be missed since they are also important elements of the movie, are the "idiot girl" and the jester.
Movies like "Andrei Rublev" are rarely ever made. The director Tarkovsky was not called "the Poet of the Cinema" for nothing. His works such as "Andrei Rublev", were just that: poems. A poem like "Andrei Rublev" has lots of imagery used to convey some deeper meanings. Andrei Rublev appeals to scholars of the cinema and art technique as well as history buffs who want a social commentary along the lines of "Alexander Nevsky". But in the end, "Andrei Rublev" has a strong appeal to those who have strong religious convictions and struggle to match those convictions with their actions. The film is ultimately about individuals fulfilling their calling in life despite setbacks, be it due to social conflict or personal tragedy.
The movie is most rewarding when watched with the same patience and perseverance that one would have reading a novel by Dostoevsky. Even the opening scene of the flying balloon stimulates conversation as to its purpose and relation to the rest of the movie.
Finally, a great but often overlooked part of "Andrei Rublev" is its soundtrack. The soundtrack of "Andrei Rublev" like that of "Saving Private Ryan", is not explosive so as to be immediately ingrained in the viewer's mind (see Star Wars). The music instead sets the mood and tone of the movie. It does not distract the viewer from the visual poetry of the movie (for example there is the utmost silence during the slow-motion horse scene). So would Andrei Rublev be any different without a soundtrack? Yes it would. Even though the message of the movie would ultimately be the same, the possible religious experience drawn from it would be delayed by the lack of tone set by the music.
I cannot give this movie enough praise. It is a must-see for anyone who has strong religious convictions. "Andrei Rublev" is capable of not only stirring the depths of the soul but of also creating a predisposition and atmosphere for conversion. "Andrei Rublev" is by far my favorite movie of all time.
The DVD picture is great although the audio commentary could not be any drier. Still the restored scenes and extra Russian translations make up for it. Criterion on the whole does an excellent job transfering this movie to DVD.
Kirill says it best early in the movie: "Only with true insight can you grasp its essence".
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Summary: The Holy Grail of Cinema
Review: There is nothing to add to all the praise,really.
Whenever I watch Rublev it's a religious experience, the images come alive .How did Tarkovsky achieve that is beyond my understanding. If you want to watch a film that will touch your soul (and possibly change your life) - buy this DVD now!
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Summary: Inspiring Masterpiece
Review: Given the trouble Tarkovsky had releasing this film it is astonishing to be able to view this film in any format let alone this astonishing criterion director's cut.
The film itself is gorgeously shot and perhaps one of the most interesting biographical films - in terms of narrative form - it is quite inventive in this respect.
I found this to be one of the most detailed, metaphorical studies I have ever seen - impossible to digest in just one viewing. Indeed, one could study this film for years and still know little of its mystery - it is like all great works of art - never fully attainable - it escapes grasp- and yet you know you are seeing something truly special.
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Summary: A Window on the Creative Process
Review: Certainly the film of this supremo that I revisit most often. Told episodically, we see what the artist sees & experiences as he accumulates the experience to unleash his momentous images(as the film's post-script, we see the film's only coloured sequence of Ivan's icons). As other commentator's have said, the bell -making sequence towards the film's conclusion is a brilliant story, quite capable of a stand alone piece in itself. In fact, I often do just that. I first saw this movie in the Melbourne University cinema in the early 1970s & was over half way through viewing it in Paris, 1979 before realising it was the same film. It's such a total experience, so full & vivid that you could well believe that cinema had been invented in the 14th century. All Tarkovsky's films deserve the magic of the cinema environment. But their unlikely appearance at a cinema nearby leaves you with the DVD alternative. On a final note, Tarkovsky's thoughts on cinema,'Sculpting In Time' is a fantastic insight to his insights on art and its ethical demands. of art
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Summary: The epic sense of the life
Review: Andrei Rubliov is the masterpiece of Andrei Tarkovsky. I 've watched very carefullly all his works, and Andrei contains the quintessential thought of this unique film maker.
What Tarkovsky made with this film may be one the most overwhelming and haunting achievemnts in all the story of the world cinema.
Rubliov is a icon painter who after an important fac, decides not continue in that office.
The powerful of the barbarian invassion into a church, where he acquires the human experience gets far away the world, he isolates and becomes in a wanderer.
The unforgettable images that appear before the viewer are of a trascendental poetic beauty never seen before and even now.
All the journey along the Russia of XVI century is a reflexive gaze of the human condition , the sense of the life and how dealing with it, the unsaid code of one must behavior humanly, even in inhuman conditions, facing the world, with his singleness, its little moments of joy, his infinite sadness and its miseries.
The opening sequence in which the fall is shown before us, is a original metaphor of how facing with the failure; and is depicted with such kind of beautiness that mesmerizes you. No other film n the story, with the exception of the ending of A man escapes from Robert Bresson reveals with so frehness and vitality the epic sense before the life.
When Rubliov knows this teenager, in the final chapter, and faces with him the huge challenge that implies to make the asgned mission, turns back çRubliov and it invites him to keep on going in his mission or the moira term greek, his place in the universe, his meaning in this brief stage in the world.
This superb masterpiece, has countless remarkable sequences, the dialogues are feed of a blissness and poetic raprure without a drop of effectism.
When the mission is completed, and everybody celebrates the fact our young hero remains alone and Rubliov will gather with him and will tell wisdom words that I must not tell.
This is the goal of the artist; he must go to the forrest and seek the mushrooms; the people will be just waiting from the safe place for him; and no matter how dangerous or hazardous be the journey; they only expect for your bag. They will consume these gifts; but the creator must seek them.
Tarkovsky was in the middle of the creative universe (remeber his father Arseni Tarkovsky was a poet)in 1966; the script has an inner mytical force ; and every bit of this film is sublime, perfect.
Tarkovsky showed what many film makers haven't been able to do; express with a camera such landscape of images, in all his whole meaning.
Andrei Rubliov will be always a landmark ; an eternal triumph ; a epic statement that will be with all of us till the end of our lives.
And even more.
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