Issue 53: Andrei Tarkovsky


Solaris

Andrei Tarkovsky: metaphysical landscapes, mystical visions, melancholy longings

To mark the release of a box-set of his films and the Kosmos season of Russian science fiction at the BFI, we celebrate the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, with reviews of Solaris, Stalker, Mirror, Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev and The Sacrifice. Tarkovsky also inspires an exploration of Immaterial films in our Online Movie column.

Out at the cinema this month are gripping Spanish prison drama Cell 211, fascinating documentary Bobby Fischer against the World, charming Japanese comedy Sawako Decides, Jean-Luc Godard’s Film Socialisme and subtle drama Poetry – read our interview with Korean master Lee Chang-dong. We also have articles on Terrence Malick for Tree of Life and on the summer’s programme of experimental Japanese cinema. Romain Gavras (he of M.I.A.’s ‘Born Free’ video controversy) talks about his provocative first feature film, Our Day Will Come.

DVD releases include Shôhei Imamura’s vivid portrait of Japanese society’s underbelly, Pigs and Battleships, Lars von Trier’s ground-breaking series The Kingdom, the surreal Hungarian tale Szindb&#225d, Dario Argento’s Tenebrae and David Hemmings’s supernatural drama The Survivor, while The Twilight Zone is our first animated Comic Strip Review!

In our Alter Ego column, writer Cressida Connelly imagines herself as Dumbo and we have a feature on spy films from the other side of the Iron Curtain. American garage pop combo Crystal Stilts do a visual Film Jukebox and in the Blog, we report on the Edinburgh and Sydney festivals.

PODCAST:
Sounds of the Living Dead: As part of the launch of The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology on Tuesday 7 June, DJ Robin the Fog performed a live rescore of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (2009), adding a new experimental electronic / musique concr&#232te soundtrack to the animated version of George Romero’s classic zombie film.