Capture life, like a reflection, like a dream
Tarkovsky for me is the greatest
the one who invented a new language
true to the nature of film
as it captures life as a reflection
life as a dream
introduction
When it comes to Tarkovsky, almost everyone (including many famous directors) is looking up. The most famous of them is Bergman's high evaluation (the above paragraph), which fully reflects the far-reaching influence and important position of the old tower in the history of film.
But at the end of the day, Tarkovsky is a difficult person to characterize. According to his film career and the artistry of his films, it seems that it can be classified into the "Soviet New Wave" genre. But under careful comparison, Tarkovsky is very different from Qiuhelai, Kalatozov and others. If I have to describe it, he is like a plateau rising from the thick spiritual soil of Russia, reaching in many respects unparalleled heights.
early life
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Андре́й Арсе́ньевич Тарко́вский) was born in 1932 in a small village on the Volga River, about a hundred kilometers away from Moscow. His father, Arseny Tarkovsky, was a famous Russian poet, translator, and a member of the Soviet Union of Writers. His mother, Maria, was a proofreader in a printing house. In addition, Tarkovsky has a sister named Marina.
Childhood was difficult for Tarkovsky, but it was also the most important period of his life. What he saw, heard and felt greatly influenced his later film language. Among them, perhaps the most difficult is the departure of his father Arseny. When Tarkovsky was three years old, his father left their home, and he fought in the Great Patriotic War and lost a leg. His sister once described the experience as follows: "Perhaps because of childhood trauma, Andrei became a stubborn child, and I became taciturn." But it is undeniable that Tarkovsky has always loved With his own father, and in art and the temperament of his poetry is very close.
But thankfully, Tarkovsky's mother was a great woman. In fact, she has a high degree of cultural accomplishment, and sometimes writes poetry (but she burns it when she thinks it's not good). In order to have more time to take care of her children, she worked as a proofreader at the nearest printing house (this experience was later transplanted into the film "Mirror"). Under extremely poor material conditions, she miraculously allowed Andre to go to music school and art school, and these experiences later became the nourishment for her film art.
At the time, she also had a family rule: no matter what, she would take her children back to the countryside for a holiday every year (they had moved to Moscow by then). It can be said that the noble temperament in her is well transmitted to Tarkovsky.
In this way, Tarkovsky grew up in difficult circumstances. Due to the outbreak of the war, he successively studied in many schools in Moscow, but his performance in mathematics and humanities was mediocre. He entered Eastern College in 1951, but had to be suspended the following year due to an injury in gym class. It is also this unexpected turning point that film history is fortunate to have a master.
In fact, Tarkovsky himself felt that the choice of major was too rash at that time, and he was very fascinated by film art and literature. With the encouragement of his mother, Tarkovsky joined the frontier geological expedition and walked thousands of kilometers in one year. During this period, he not only painted many landscape albums, but also penetrated into workers and ordinary people, and had a great resonance with nature. All this strengthened his confidence in shadowing. When he returned in 1954, he successfully passed the entrance examination of the Film Academy and entered the directing department of the National Film Academy.
Director career
Tarkovsky, who entered film school, studied under Mikhail Romm, a valuable mentor from whom many Soviet New Wave directors came. During his studies, Tarkovsky came into contact with the works of many directors, but few had any influence on him. The list of directors he likes only includes Buñuel, Bergman, Bresson, Akira Kurosawa and Fellini, and the list doesn't get much longer even in his later years. He has made it clear that entertainment films are a form of "spiritual pollution" and have no favours for Hollywood. He also rudely commented on Spielberg and others:
"A director like Spielberg, who attracts huge audiences every time, brings him great fortune with every film. But he's not an artist, and his films aren't art. If I go and make something like that Movies, I have no faith, I will die of fear." (Spielberg cried in the toilet)
"Artistic" is a major pursuit of Laota's films, and it is also a major reason why it is destined not to be "popular" (at least for now). He never saw filmmaking as a means of making a living or making a name for himself, but as a way to pursue his artistic beliefs. And this is reflected in his graduation debut "Road Roller and Violin".
The film won the first prize at the New York Student Film Festival and caused a lot of repercussions within the film school. Although it is still immature compared with the later works of Laota (it is his debut after all), it also reveals the direction of his artistic path to a large extent. For example, the dialogue of the whole film is simplified, but it is excellent in the creation of environmental atmosphere, and many pictures have a poetic texture. This is indeed a main line of art in the subsequent creation of the old tower. In addition, as the debut of his own artistic language, many imagery (such as apples, rain, etc.) have already begun to emerge. It is worth mentioning that the cautious and injured little boy in the film somehow matched the image of Laota in my mind.
The old tower, who graduated from the film school, just caught up with the node of cultural change in the Soviet Union. The convening of the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party (1956) brought dawn to the sclerotic film industry, and many directors got rid of the shackles of "individualism" and "heroism" and began to explore in art. Among them, directors such as Qiu Helaiyi ("Forty-first", "Song of the Soldier"), Kalatozov ("Flying Wild Wild Goose") and other directors even carried the banner of the "Soviet New Wave" and made great contributions to the Soviet Union. Even the world film industry injects new vitality. The biggest impact of such a "thaw" trend on new directors is that they have the possibility of making movies. Before that, Moscow film studios only produced more than 20 films a year, and these were not enough for even established directors. But the decision to "increase production" has given young directors like Lao Tower the opportunity to make films. And this gave birth to his first full-length work - "Ivan's Childhood".
"Ivan's Childhood" is based on Bogomolov's novel. The little boy Ivan lost his family in the war and became a scout. Due to its small stature, it is difficult to detect and performs important tasks several times. The colonel in the army wanted him to stay away from the battlefield and go to the school in the rear, but Ivan insisted on staying on the battlefield. Eventually, he was caught by the Nazis on a night mission and gave his life...
Once "Ivan's Childhood" was released, the response was strong. Roehm called it "the language of modern cinema" and "a great work", and Sartre (French writer, critic, existentialist philosopher) praised this "revolution with profound Russian characteristics" without hesitation. Sex Videos". After the advent of outstanding war films such as "One Man's Encounter" and "Yan Nanfei", "Yi" can still receive such praise, which is evident for its innovativeness and artistry. The international film circle also gave Laota great recognition. The film won the Best Director Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1962, which is undoubtedly a very high starting point for a new director.
Although in the eyes of the Soviet authorities, the film was a bit "Westernist" and "formalist", they generally affirmed Tarkovsky's ability and status, believing that he could play the role of "thawing" literature and art. Therefore, Laota's second film "Andrei Rublev" received a looser budget and trust.
The film depicts the life of the 15th-century Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev. At the invitation of the Grand Duke, Rublev traveled to Moscow to paint the church. But in the face of the invasion of the Tatars and the people in dire straits, Rublev fell into artistic confusion more than once, so he could not continue to paint. In the end, he witnessed the whole process of building a bell by a young man, regained his faith, and completed the masterpiece "Holy Trinity".
It can be said that "Andrei Rublev" is Tarkovsky's landmark work, and is also considered by many critics to be his most outstanding work. But at the time, the film was a big disappointment to the authorities, not only because of the incomprehension of its artistic language, but also because of the reshaping and presentation of historical events in the film, which made the Soviet authorities feel at a loss. As a result, the release of "Andrei Rublev" was met with great resistance. It was filmed in '66, but was not screened in Moscow until '69. In May of the same year, the film participated in the Cannes Film Festival, but according to the official requirements of the Soviet Union, it could only be included in the "non-competition unit". Since then, Laota has been labeled as a "problem director".
But it is undeniable that in the film "Ann", Laota completely embarked on his own artistic path. It is poetic, soothing, real, and profound, and to a large extent is connected with the pulse of Russia's profound cultural heritage. This is related to Laota's literary accumulation, especially the reading of his father Arseny's poems. When Arseny left home, his unpublished poems were piled up in the attic of his home, from which the old tower of his youth got its first sense of rhythm and artistry. Of course, the old tower is not limited to his father's poems. He also likes poets such as Paladinsky and Akhmatova (as famous as Pushkin), painters such as Manet and Dürer, and musicians such as Bach.
At the same time, this film is also a big test for fans who are new to the old tower. The film is 3 hours long, with a time span of a quarter of a century, and 8 chapters are delicately presented, and it is difficult to understand after only reading it once. For the fans who did not fall asleep after watching this film for the first time, the author expresses high respect.
Tarkovsky, whose directorial career was hindered, turned his attention to the popular science fiction films at the time with hesitation, and launched "Solaris" in 1972. This may be the only normal release of the old tower's film, but in the old tower's opinion it is the least successful one.
"Solaris" tells the story of astronaut Kelvin to the space station on the planet Solaris to investigate a mysterious incident. He found that one of the two astronauts on the space station committed suicide and the other went into a frenzy. And his wife, who had been dead for many years, suddenly appeared in the space station, and his thinking seemed to be counterattacked by Solaris...
Although "Solaris" is a concession from the old tower, he still treats each of his films with the attitude of art. It is true that after "2001: A Space Odyssey", the space scene shown in "Solaris" has been criticized by some (Old Tower himself does not care), and its depth and breadth are not as deep and wide as "Andrei Rublev" . But as an artist and humanitarian, Tarkovsky still achieved his own expectations. The existence, spirit, morality and other issues discussed in the film reflect the consistent humanistic care of Laota. Because of this, the film won the 72 Cannes Film Festival Jury Award and the International Film Critics Association Award, and was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
In addition, the sense of horror infiltrated by the slow rhythm of "Solaris" seems to indicate that the old tower can also control the genre of horror films. This surprised me at the time.
Subsequently, with the "success" of "Solaris", Laota returned to his own artistic style in "Mirror" in 1974.
"Mirror" is another peak of Laota's film art, and it is also his autobiographical film. In this film, the image of the mother, the image of the wife, the image of the father, the image of oneself, and the image of the sister all exist in the form of fragmentation and stream of consciousness. The poetic expression is also mixed with war scars and philosophical reflections on grand propositions such as life, time, and land. Apparently, such a personalised film received almost no positive feedback from Soviet officials and the media, and the organizing committee said after the preview: "We didn't understand anything."
But in 1978, the film was released in France, and Tarkovsky was also invited to France. At this time, the old tower was already well-known abroad, and this screening made him even more famous. Maybe it's like the line in Quentin's "Inglourious Basterds": In France, everyone respects the director.
Mirror is a purely personal film. Laota once said: "...no scene is fictitious, all come from my family life...I am not looking for a form of memory, I am looking for everything to be 'represented', that is, It directly reproduces what is preserved in my memory." It is worth mentioning that Lao Tower's mother also participated in the film, and his father Arseny read his own poems in voiceover.
"Stalker" in 1979 was also a blocked film, Laota turned back to the genre, taking the novel "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugardsky brothers (yes, the film of the same name directed by Bi Gan was taken. titled this book) onto the screen.
"Stalker" tells the story of a "stowaway". At one point, he led a writer and a physicist to the "district"—a place controlled by the military. There are many dangers there, and time and space have no absolute meaning. And in the middle of the "area", there is a hut that can realize people's desires. But in the end, they lingered at the door and refused to enter...
Like other troubled films of the Old Tower, the film was not well promoted in the Soviet Union. The high-quality film originally shipped from abroad was misappropriated by the organizing committee, and the film could not be screened in some slightly remote cities. These successive blows made the old tower very distressed, even to the point of being seriously ill. In a way, he has lost faith in his domestic career, and this is his last Soviet film. But in France, the film participated in the "Cinema Surprise" section of the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, and it was very popular after the screening, which also gave Tarkovsky the idea of leaving the country. At this time, an Italian broadcasting company just wanted to invite him to shoot a feature film in Italy. Laota also successfully obtained a visa and started his overseas career.
But like other Russians, a deep nostalgia for his hometown always haunted him. Nostalgia in 1983 is a reflection of his state of mind during this period.
Nostalgia tells the story of the Russian writer Gorchakov who traveled through northern Italy with the help of a female translator in order to write a biography of a musician in the 18th century. In an unknown small village, Gorchakov met Domenico, a "madman" who once locked his family at home, but was also full of wisdom. At this time, Gorchakov was separated from dreams and reality, and was troubled by nostalgia. He rejected the female interpreter's offer of love, and sacrificed his life in order to carry out the task of "madman"...
In a sense, the nostalgia in the film is also the nostalgia of the old tower itself. As he himself once said: "That is the special and unique psychological state of each Russian (the original should be Russian) when he is far away from his hometown..." Therefore, the ethereal image of the hometown constantly appears in the film, such as the small wooden house, such as family.
Another feature of the film is the use of religious imagery. Abroad, the relatively free old tower participated in a series of religious groups and activities. Although religious imagery is also reflected in many of his early works, it is perhaps the most concentrated one in Nostalgia.
The film won the Best Director Award and the Fabisi Award at Cannes that year, but unfortunately did not win the Palme d'Or. The reason may have something to do with Bondarchuk as the judge that year.
Old Tower's last film, "The Sacrifice" (aka "Dedication"), was shot on the Swedish island of Gotland when he was already suffering from lung cancer.
Although the film did not have much innovation (in my opinion), it also continued the high-level production of the old tower as always. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or of the year and won the Grand Jury Award and the Fabisi Award. But what is even more rare is that "Sacrifice" also received a warm response from the masses, attracting 100,000 viewers in Paris alone, which was unimaginable before. In December of the same year, the old tower died in Paris. Regrettably, he was unable to return to the vast and thick motherland in the end to appease his nostalgia. But his film art is widely recognized around the world, and has passed the test of time, becoming a monument that is difficult to surpass.
The film language of the old tower
When it comes to the old tower, a label that cannot be avoided is "poetic", but his poetry is very different from that of the Soviet directors of the same period (such as Kalatozov and Chukhray mentioned at the beginning). Movies such as "Flying Wild Goose" and "Song of the Soldier", although they do get rid of the traditional narrative framework, have strong subjective consciousness and emotional photography, but to me they are not "poetic" in the full sense. . To truly achieve the strength of "poetry", it is necessary to count the seven and a half works of the old pagoda.
Of course, like the poem itself, Lao Tower's film is an indescribable work of art. The best way to learn about them is like reading a poem and repeating them. Experience the soothing rhythm of the long shot (you might fall asleep, of course) and the lingering lingering lingering after watching it. In addition to the poetry in rhythm and mirror movement, Laota also has its own unique imagery in his own film system (this is also very similar to the expression of poetry). Take apple and water as an example: Apple is one of Laota's favorite images. , appearing in almost every one of his films. Such frequent use is certainly not accidental. Speaking of apples, we should be most familiar with the apple of Adam and Eve, and considering the background of the Orthodox Church in Laota, this explanation should be more appropriate. According to the biblical Genesis account, Eve ate the apple under the temptation of the serpent, so she opened her eyes and became wise. In Laota's debut work "Road Roller and Violin", the little boy puts the apple on the chair for the little girl, which seems to echo Adam and Eve - the apple at this time represents the original human nature, including wisdom and desire basic human emotions. The same goes for Ivan's Childhood, in which Ivan's dream is that he and another girl are sitting in a carriage full of apples, which eventually roll off the beach and are eaten by several horses.
Regarding this scene, the Soviet Film Commission was also at a loss, and asked directly: "Why are there several horses munching on apples there?" Many film critics regarded this scene as a depiction of a better life, a description of the war. Contrast. But in my opinion, it seems to be understandable in this way: if the horse is regarded as a representative of war (war horse), it can be said that this shows the destruction of human nature by war, and it is a kind of feedback from Ivan's heart to reality through dreams. Of course, who is right and who is right is unknown, and it does not matter.
Another example is the image of "water", which appears in almost every film of Laota.
The image of "water" does not have a stable meaning like an apple, and it must be interpreted in the context of the film. For example, the pouring rain in "Solaris" can be seen as a natural resistance. In "Ivan's Childhood", the mother is killed and the well water in the bucket is spilled all over the place. If the water here is regarded as a symbol of vitality, the action of "splashing on the ground" echoes "being killed", and it can even be said that the well water here is hidden blood water. In "Mirror", the mother braved the heavy rain to go to the printing house to correct the manuscript. The heavy rain not only matched the mother's anxiety and mood, but also seemed to imply the difficulties that may come next (you must know that in that era, even small mistakes in public publications had may be considered an ideological error). Of course, there is also the rain that symbolizes divine revelation in "Andrei Rublev", the "rain in the room" that symbolizes desire in "Stalker", etc... Fans can interpret it individually, just like reading poetry, There is no standard answer. As long as you can get the beauty of the old tower, it is helpful to understand the movie.
Of course, the image system of the old pagoda is far more than the above two, so I won't go into details here. Regarding the poetry of his films, Laota once expressed: "...I found the connection and logic of poetry to be very moving in the film... The most important thing is to open up people's logical thinking, so that the generation and occurrence of ideas have their own autonomy... ..." This also explains why Old Tower prefers long shots over montages (in fact he also objected to Eisenstein's theory). In general, what he pursues is a kind of spiritual impregnation, not the imposition of thinking; he needs readers to comprehend the connotation of the film by themselves, rather than instilling their own thinking directly into the audience. If we have reached this point, look back at Bergman's evaluation at the beginning "the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream." The new film language, capturing life, like a reflection, like a dream), knows how appropriate it is.
Epilogue
It may be difficult for us to describe the profound apocalyptic consciousness in Laota’s film, but when we hear the ringing of the big bell in “Andrei Rublev”, we will definitely feel a deep shock; we may not be able to internalize the thick rural land Feelings, but when you watch the 9-minute long shot at the end of "Nostalgia", you will be sighed. There is still a lot to be said about the old Taco, and the rest are for you to experience for yourself.
Appendix 1: Chronology of Tarkovsky's works
1960 "Road Roller and Violin" (55 minutes)
1962 "Ivan's Childhood" (1 hour 35 minutes)
1966 "Andrei Rublev" (3 hours 5 minutes)
1972 Solaris (2 hours 45 minutes)
1974 "Mirror" (1 hour 46 minutes)
1979 Stalker (2 hours 41 minutes)
1983 "Nostalgia" (2 hours 10 minutes)
1986 "Sacrifice" (2 hours 25 minutes)
Appendix 2: Bibliography
"Sculpting Time", Andrei Tarkovsky, People's Literature Publishing House
Seven and a half films - Tarkovsky's film world, Li Baoqiang, China Film Publishing House
Andrei Tarkovsky, Antoine de Becque, Peking University Press
"Sacrifice - Tarkovsky's Film Writing", Zhang Xiaodong, Heilongjiang People's Publishing House
"Soviet Films in a Literary Context", He Hongying, China Film Publishing House
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