“Andrei Tarkovsky is one of those names that strikes a certain intimidating foreboding in even the heartiest, most adventuresome of moviegoers, a filmmaker who is arguably more respected than deeply known. The rereleases of two of his films, 1979’s Stalker and 1972’s Solaris, may help change that.
“Based on the novel Roadside Picnic by brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, who adapted the screenplay, Stalker is set in a vague time and place that seems largely made up of either dilapidated industrial spaces or overgrown fields and forests. A man known as the Stalker prepares to lead two men, the Writer and the Professor, into the abandoned wasteland of the Zone. There they hope to find the Room, a mystical place said to fulfill people’s deepest desires.
“The film has a hypnotic pull, drawing the viewer deeper and deeper into its enigmatic adventure by crafting a world all its own. The pulsing, electronic score by composer Eduard Artemyev adds to the film’s unusual tone, at once languid and anxious.”
- Los Angeles Times
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