Wednesday, April 1, 2015

581. Zerkalo/The Mirror (1974)


Running Time: 106 minutes
Directed By: Andrei Tarkovsky
Written By: Aleksandr Misharin, Andrei Tarkovsky
Main Cast: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovsky, Ignat Daniltsev, Larisa Tarkovskaya, Alla Demidova
Click here to view the trailer

TARKOVSKY WEEK: CHAPTER THREE

I know, I know, you didn't know whether I was lying in a ditch or what and I should've called if I was going to be late. I'm sorry. Things have just been busy for me and when I do get down time to watch movies, I've been watching random stuff, with my wife and I didn't even suggest watching The Mirror, as I knew it wouldn't be for her. I also fully realize that Tarkovsky WEEK is turning into Tarkovsky MONTHS, but that's okay, we'll just pretend it's all normal. Anyway, on with the show.


Not going to have much to say here, as I was sort of baffled by The Mirror and honestly, it was a real clock watcher for me. I can't even begin to string together any sort of plot synopsis, so I'll get right into my review so that I can wrap this up quick and with any luck I'll get in another BOOK movie later today.



Supposedly The Mirror was very autobiographical, but when it jumped back and forth between characters, black & white, dreams and reality, it got difficult to piece together and unfortunately, it just wasn't compelling enough for me to care to bother with trying to understand what the hell was going on. I was bored throughout and honestly, unless Stalker REALLY blows me away, I can honestly say that Andrei Tarkovsky simply isn't the filmmaker for me. As much as he's lauded for his artistic abilities and is an inspiration for other filmmaker's I do enjoy (Lars Von Trier, namely), I'm disappointed that I can't get into him, but I'll leave his movies to the ones who herald them as art pieces and I'll stick with guys like Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock to fill out my Best Director ballot. I will say, however, that any points I give to The Mirror will all be presented for the imagery alone. Such beautiful shots, as Tarkovsky proves he can frame the perfect shot in both color and black & white. One image that comes to mind as a favorite is a shot of the main character, played by Margarita Terekhova, running down a street lined with trees. It was definitely a shot that, despite my boredom, made me pop my eyes open a little wider and take notice. There were two handfuls of great shots in The Mirror and if the film is indeed a "must see" then it's for the imagery alone and not necessarily for any other reasons, although I'm sure Tarkovsky lovers are all about this one, as it's mind bending and personal enough to really encapsulate what Tarkovsky was all about. Me, I prefer Solaris and even that didn't blow me away.

RATING: 3/10  Anything lower would seem unfair and anything higher wouldn't be an accurate depiction of my opinion. I'm going to try REALLY hard to have Stalker watched and reviewed by Monday night. Bear with me.

MOVIES WATCHED: 916
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 85

April 1, 2015  9:52am

4 comments:

  1. Regretably, I find it difficult to disagree with you.
    I really, really want to disagree and say, Hey what a great film.. and then explain to you WHY, and just what it was about..
    I'm sure tere was something fantastic in there.. and I kept feeling that with just a little more effort I could find it and really appreciate what LOOKS like a great film full of meaning.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, Tarkovsky is a real struggle for me. I'll be glad to put Stalker behind me and wash my hands of him.

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  2. Only 85 left to watch. Wow! I remember when you were just starting off, relatively. Amazing!

    I didn't get The Mirror either. I do remember reading that only the Russians truly understand it.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Valerie! It's good to know that the only the Russians are meant to understand The Mirror and that I wasn't alone in being bamboozled by it.

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