ANDREI TARKOVSKY, who died of cancer in his mid-fifties, may not have lived long, but he captured and poeticized time and space so powerfully, it's as though he created his own immortality. To watch a Tarkovsky film is to become profoundly lost inside a vortex of surreal observation. There is also a deep spirituality in all his works (which often deal with religious themes), not only for the subject on the screen but the audience having the experience of watching it. His films frequently consist of extremely long takes that not only take you through a journey of surprise; you also find yourself looking deeper into yourself.
Born in Belorussia in 1932, and trained under the Soviet system of filmmaking (he also studied Arabic and geology), Tarkovsky soon became a figure of artistic resistance. He had more interesting ideas to explore than girl-loves-tractor movies for the Soviet machine. Even though his movies weren't overtly political, they were subversive for being so personal, for answering to the artist and not to the state. And the state never let him forget it -- one of the main reasons for his small output of films: seven features in 27 years.
"Andrei Rublev," by director Andrei Tarkovsky, stars Anatoli Solonitsyn as the 15th-century Russian icon painter.
(Kino International)
|
|
Those features (he also made shorts and one Italian TV documentary) will be shown at the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre (8633 Colesville Rd.; Silver Spring). And even though his films have been shown here before, at the AFI and the National Gallery of Art's East Building, they are always cause for renewed or first-time appreciation.
The series starts Friday at 5:15 with Michal Leszczylowski's "Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky," an enlightening 1988 documentary about the filmmaker. It also screens Monday at 9:10 and April 22 at 4:15. It's followed Saturday at 1 with the 1962 "My Name Is Ivan/Ivan's Childhood." Tarkovsky's first feature is about an orphaned 12-year-old who is a scout during wartime and never gets to be a child. (Other screening times: Saturday at 8:55, Sunday at 1 and Tuesday at 6).
The 1966 "Andrei Rublev" screens Saturday at 3 (also Sunday at 5:15 and Tuesday at 7:45). The movie, which wasn't released until 1971, was loosely based on the life of 15th-century icon painter Andrei Rublev, but many perceived it as an allegory for life in the Soviet Union.
"The Sacrifice," Tarkovsky's last film, screens Monday at 6:20 (it repeats Wednesday at 8:40 and April 22 at 8:30). This 1986 Swedish production, filmed with Ingmar Bergman's famed cinematographer Sven Nykvist, is a mesmerizing allegory in which an aged man (Erland Josephson) in a remote Swedish setting makes a personal sacrifice as his way of stopping nuclear war. The literally incendiary finale (also featured in detail in the "Tarkovsky" documentary) is one of the great scenes in modern movie history.
And over the week and next weekend, you can see:
• "Nostalghia" (1983), showing Wednesday at 6:15 and Thursday at 6:15. Unable to work in the Soviet Union, Tarkovsky was forced to leave his homeland in the 1980s. This brilliantly dreamlike film, about a Russian poet at an Italian spa struggling with homesickness for his country, was the result of that heartbreak.
• "Stalker" (1979), showing April 23 at 9 and April 25 at 8:30) A futuristic parable, this film is about a mysterious zone that has appeared on Earth where visitors are drawn into their deepest unconscious desires.
• "The Mirror" (1975), showing April 24 at 7:15 and April 25 at 6:20. Probably the most abstract and awe-inspiring of them all, this autobiographical film filters through memories of Tarkovsky's personal past and interaction with his family by means of mirror images. It's an extraordinary exploration of memory, time and space.
• "Solaris" (1972), showing April 27 at 8:30, and April 30 at 3:20 and 8:20. The director's third feature, about a scientist sent to investigate strange events on a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, is a science-fiction film in form only. It's also a religious vision of the human race.
Admission is $8.50. Check www.AFI.com/silver for more information or call 301-495-6720 for 202-785-4600 for a recorded schedule of showtimes.
'SEVEN SAMURAI' IS BACK
Hard to believe that a 1954 Japanese black-and-white movie could rock your world. But there it is: Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" may just be the best orchestrated action ensemble flick ever made. It's about a group of seven unemployed samurai (ronin) who are asked to protect a village of peasants from outside marauders. And as the seventh in this motley group, Toshiro Mifune is the human centerpiece of the picture: a loner with a shady past who bends the samurai code to his own convenience.
It's a breathtaking flurry of movement, images and sounds, with majestically staged fighting sequences, choreographed and edited by Kurosawa. "Seven Samurai," which begat an American version, "The Magnificent Seven," and whose slow motion battle scenes surely influenced "The Wild Bunch," has remained the standard by which all action films must measure themselves. It screens for two weeks at Landmark's E Street Cinema -- matinees only through the first week (through April 23), then full time from April 24 through April 28. Admission is $9.25. (Matinees are $6.75.) For more information, visit www.landmarktheatres.com or call 202-452-7672 for showtimes.
MARSHALL PLAN PROGRAMS
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was the United States' $13 billion aid program for European nations to help them rebuild after the shattering losses of World War II and build democratic governments. Also part of the outreach were films made by the Motion Picture Section and the Documentary Film Unit of the U.S. Office of Military Government to promote the democratization of postwar Germany.
Starting this weekend (Friday, Saturday and Monday), the Goethe-Institut (812 Seventh St. NW) is showing four programs (two hours each, including question-and-answer sessions) that will show 25 films made in Europe by these two filmmaking units.
Program One ("Out of the Ruins") screens Friday at 3 at the Goethe. Program Two ("Help Is on the Way") is Friday at 6:30 at the Regal Cinema (707 Seventh St. NW). Program Three ("True Fiction") will be Saturday at 7 at the Goethe, and Program Four ("Strength for the Free World -- From War to European Union") will be Monday at 7 at the Goethe.
Detailed information about the many films can be found at www.goethe.de/washington. Tickets to programs one, three and four at the Goethe-Institut are $6 for general admission, $4 for members, seniors and students with ID. Tickets may be purchased at the Goethe theater during office hours or online at www.boxofficetickets.com. Tickets to Program Two are $9 and are available from Tickets.com or by calling 703- 218-6500. Tickets can be purchased at the Regal box office, but only one hour before showtime.
-- Desson Thomson
