Cinema
Stalker
Сталкер
Andrei Tarkovsky · 1979
Synopsis
The Stalker, a guide just out of prison, is hired by two men, a melancholy Writer and a Professor, to lead them through the Zone, a forbidden and dangerous territory, to the Room, which is said to grant the deepest desires of whoever enters it. Together they enter it by handcar, then advance cautiously over ground that nature has reclaimed, each speaking of the reasons that bring him there.
Context
The screenplay is by the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, based on their novel “Roadside Picnic”; the photography is by Alexander Knyazhinsky, the music by Eduard Artemyev. Shot a first time in 1977 on unusable film stock, the film was almost entirely redone. Alexander Kaidanovsky plays the Stalker, Anatoly Solonitsyn the Writer, Nikolai Grinko the Professor and Alisa Freindlich the guide's wife. Produced by Mosfilm, it was released on 25 May 1979.
Who it is for
A film of over two and a half hours, slow and contemplative, for those who like meditative cinema.
Prizes and reception
Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980, a year after its release.
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