#27 - Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)

The film that killed Tarkovsky. Figuratively. After principal photography was finished, an error developing the film necessitated a reshoot. It was widely speculated that Soviet officials deliberately destroyed the film based on its spiritual themes. Either way, it was Tarkovsky's final film made in the U.S.S.R. His subsequent films Nostalghia and The Sacrifice were made in Italy and Sweden respectively.

The film that killed Tarkovsky. Literally. Stalker was filmed around an abandoned hydroelectric plant in Estonia downstream from a chemical plant that was polluting the Jagala River. The director, his wife, and actor Anatoly Solonitsyn all developed cancer in the years following, all succumbing to the disease.

The story of three men searching for a room in a forbidden zone where all wishes can be granted is a pretty clear religious allegory for a Soviet film. Like Mirror, it alternates between scenes of color and scenes filmed in sepia tone. This one's got even more long takes than most Tarkovskys. The several minute shot of the man's face (I forget whether it was Writer or Professor) as he rides in the back of a truck to the Zone while Eduard Artemyev's haunting electronic score plays on in is one of my favorite pointless long takes in cinema. Bela Tarr's entire career owes to that shot.