Everyone who’s ever watched a classic film decades after its release will have had the same experience: you watch it, but you don’t just watch the film, you realise where a thousand other films, TV shows, songs and more got their inspiration from. That strange quality of deja vu is […]
Andrei Tarkovsky
The Blood Of Hussain (1980) a mesmerising piece of cinema (Review)
Jamil Dehlavi’s The Blood of Hussain is an allegorical tale of revolt against tyranny and oppression in 1970s Pakistan. It takes place during the annual mourning procession for Hussain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who was slain for his refusal to recognise Yazid ibn Muawiya, the Umayyad Caliph, as his leader […]
Loveless (2017) A Russian apocalyse within a dissolving marriage (Review)
Russian cinema is certainly one for its figureheads. Sergei Eisenstein was instrumental in many theories that would go on to establish the cinematic language. Andrei Tarkovsky established and nigh on perfected the arthouse. And since his passing there wasn’t really much of a centrepiece for Russian cinema, as such, it […]
The Sacrifice (1986) Tarkovsky’s Acutely Intelligent Swansong (Review)
Released just six months before his death from cancer, Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice is commonly held to be an uncomfortably elegiac, melancholy note for the great director to bow out on, which considering the rest of his films were hardly Duck Soup is saying something. In tackling the central threat […]
Cinema Eclectica 82 – Things are going in a Grave Robbing Direction
Apologies for the delay! We’ve had technical difficulties and gremlins to contend with. On this extended edition we see the return of the B-sides with “Tickled”, “The Little Prince”, “Star Trek Beyond”, “Evolution”, “Childhood of a Leader” and “Everyone Wants Some” – titles that could have been our feature presentation […]
Nostalgia (1983) Diving into Tarkovsky’s Deep End (Review)
Curzon Artificial Eye releases the penultimate film from Andrei Tarkovsky’s filmography in Nostalgia. Post-Stalker, Tarkovsky planned to make “The First Day” – a film that would interrogate atheism in the Soviet Union. Long story short. He had a major confrontation with Goskino (USSR committee for cinematography) whereby the half-finished film […]
Cinema Eclectica 79 – Crude Doodles on the Virtual Whiteboard
Stalker (1979) Tarkovsky’s Infamous & Unfettered Artistic Vision (Review)
Solaris got the remake, Andrei Rublev got the Vatican’s thumbs-up, and Mirror famously caused Lars von Trier to declare Andrei Tarkovsky was God. But the biggest cultural footprint of all the Russian director’s seven feature films undoubtedly belongs to Stalker. His adaptation of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel Roadside Picnic has inspired a […]
Solaris (1972) Full of complex ideas and emotions, must be seen at least once (Review)
Andrei Tarkovsky’s third film, following his chilling debut Ivan’s Childhood and the mammoth Andrei Rublev, Solaris is a film that is more about experience and environment than enjoyment or leisure. Clocking in at 2 hours and 40 minutes, this science-fiction voyage into the human soul is anything but fun and […]
Cinema Eclectica 74 – Ultimate 1980’s Bingo Card
Our Directors Lottery has its 2nd outing and we couldn’t be happier with the result. In Off The Shelf we look at the 1993 existential noir “Suture”, Tarkovsky’s legendary debut “Ivan’s Childhood”, Pasolini’s “Pigsty” and intense political documentary “Citizenfour”. Our Featured film and second director of choice is Joe Dante […]