Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky

The most celebrated adaptation of the Strugatskys Brothers, Tarkovsky’s take on their 1972 novel Roadside Picnic transforms the authors’ narrative of alien visitation into a metaphysical journey into the human soul. Recounting an expedition led by a “Stalker” (Aleksandr Kaidanovsky) into the hazardous wasteland of “the Zone” in search of a room that will grant one’s deepest desires, Tarkovsky’s masterpiece is both visceral and conceptual, rightly feted for its languorous cinematography and philosophical depth. A film described by Geoff Dyer as “synonymous with cinema’s claims to high art,” it draws much of its power from the Strugatskys capacity to use genre as a vehicle for unnerving psychological probing.
This screening is part of the programme After Utopia: The Strugatsky Brothers on Film.