Tarkovsky

Review: Offret

by Matthew Blevins

The end has finally arrived. My journey through and revisitation of the feature length works of Andrei Tarkovsky has come to an end, but it was a richly rewarding experience to shine a light inward and try and tap...

Review: Nostalgia

by Matthew Blevins

Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia continues the biographical threads that Zerkalo had started. It is a rumination on the faithless man that has been separated from his roots for far too long and he is haunted by the past and an insatiable...

Review: Stalker

by Matthew Blevins

The man of faith, the empirical man of science, and the neurotic writer stand at the precipice of human understanding. They are tormented by the questions that have driven them for their entire lives but are terrified of what...

Review: Zerkalo

by Matthew Blevins

With great film, each subsequent viewing has the power to make you believe that this is the time you truly “got” the film. You convince yourself that you only understood the film superficially on previous viewings, but this is...

Review: Solaris

by Matthew Blevins

It is difficult to reconcile the inquisitiveness and doubt that are intrinsic to human nature from an evolutionary perspective. Why did we develop a boundlessly curious nature? What purpose does it serve for the survival and propagation of our...

Review: Andrei Rublev

by Matthew Blevins

Andrei Rublev may be one of the few high water marks of cinematic achievement. It is difficult to reflect on the film while resisting the temptation to describe it with overwrought hyperbole. Its masterful use of historical context, religious...

Review: Ivan’s Childhood

by Matthew Blevins

We begin with Tarkovsky’s first feature length film, Ivan’s Childhood. It follows a twelve year old Ivan through the harsh landscapes of a Soviet landscape torn by war. He is hardened by the ugliness of war and has the...

Tarkovsky: An Introduction

by Matthew Blevins

Andrei Tarkovsky is cinema. My passion lies in film as an art and is as close to a form as religion that I have. Religion is supposed to be that thing that transcends cynicism and rational thinking to make...