My first Tarkovsky and likely my last. Yes the images are beautiful, mysterious, hypnotic. Any sample 30 seconds would make me want to see the movie. But put them all together, in a story fragmented to the point of disintegration, and my question became, Will this ever end? I've recently seen two other movies where each shot was beautiful but the story was washed out, schematic and abstract: Maborosi and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. These pictures are like photography exhibits. They think they're deep, but as far as I can see the depth amounts to portentous platitudes with no narrative flesh on the bones. Someone should tell them that storytelling is art--difficult art. Then they might try it. But they would fail. I think they do this kind of movie because they can't tell stories or create characters. I love Rohmer, whose movies many find slow and storyless. But it isn't true. With Tarkovsky, it is. There's no good reason for this degree of unintelligibility. The characters have human moments, interesting moments. But the cryptological impulse drains them of context and therefore of real feeling.
