Tartofsky's "Stalker"

[NickNascati]

I am curious as to whether anyone has watched this 2 hour + film and what you thought of it.  It is difficult to find an English dubbed or subtitled version unless you are willing to buy, and I am not sure it is worth it.  I was intrigued when I realized that the film was made almost 10 years before Chernobyl, yet its mysterious "Zone", seems to have all the trappings of what has come after 1986.

[Dentatus]

I saw it. I tried to assess it without reference to the Chernobyl Incident, the PC games, "Roadside Picnic"... As you said, it was made well before any of that. So in that light, I took it (partly) to be a commentary on the meaninglessness of Soviet Secular Atheism and its efforts to quarantine/suppress any notion of transcendence or a spiritual/religious element to existence. The Zone is a place where there's life, color, beauty, mystery, meaning. Even in the ordinary things all around us. 

[NickNascati]

Well it sounds like it might worth spending two hours watching it.  The fact that it was made long before Chernobyl happened really intrigued me.

[ecurtz]

If you're in the US (and probably elsewhere?) you can stream it from Amazon or YouTube. I haven't seen the newly restored version, but it's a beautiful film, so it should look amazing. Highly recommended as long as you're ok with slow, meditative stuff.

[Mr. Peabody]

I really enjoyed the restored version. It makes for a fast three hours. I know I wouldn't have enjoyed the film as much without also having first read the sci-fi novella, 'A Roadside Picnic' by the Strugatsky brothers.

[Manchu]

Tartovsky is visually self-indulgent to the point of self parody. The film is needlessly slow and long winded. The endless and endlessly pretentious dialog is a millstone around the audience’s neck. The plot is swiss cheese, at best.

BUT ...

... somehow I really enjoyed watching it. I honestly think it is intellectually vacuous. Every square inch of Stalker is style over substance. The style is so good, however, that is sustains the sense of a mysterious journey.