Question by Franz Lanzaderas: Help! A friend of mine asked me to write an essay about the director, Andrei Tarkovsky in English.?
First of all, I don’t know him enough to be able to write anything. I have seen the film Solaris, which I had difficulty understanding, and that’s all I have as far as knowledge on Tarkovsky. For those of you who know him, what could you say about him or his film Solaris?
This friend gave me hints in Russian what to say about him, but I don’t know this director enough. All, I could do is translate literally. How can I write something that makes sense? I tried googling and combining a little here and there. Somehow, I feel this is plagiarism.
I know he passed away many years ago, however, there are many people who are in their 20’s and even late teens that are fans of his. He was one of the greatest directors in Russian cinema. I’m a fan of Bondarchuk and one of his greatest works, Война и мир, was made when my mother was still a very young girl, about two decades before I was born.
Answers and Views:
Answer by kate
the guy passed 25 years ago, so I don’t think there are many Russians on YA who knew him personally. Do we familiar with his work? You betcha. By the way, there was a remake of “Solaris” in 2002 by Steven Sodenbergh (USA) with George Clooney. In English
There are lots of sites about Andrei Tarkovsky. To understand his style, perhaps take a look at this
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Street Spirit says
I love Tarkovsky, one of our best filmmakers. But ironically I have seen all his major works except Solaris. If you want to make your personal opinion about him in your paper (not just compilation of somebody else's opinions) then you have to watch at least several films of his. My favorite is probably Andrey Rublev, then Stalker and Zerkalo. You might also want to see Offret and Nostalghia. Ivan's Childhood is good also, with clear story in it. I love the dialogs in Stalker.
His movies are very slow-moving, spiritual and 'atmospheric', with lots of symbols involved. You have to get yourself in some meditative state of mind to truly enjoy him. So take your time and watch him a bit, not for the essay, but for yourself first of all.
Es says
If you want to write something that would be more then just literal translation of what your friend said, watch some of his movies. IMO, easiest to understand are "Ivan's childhood" and "Andrey Rublev". and give "Stalker" a chance too.
Maybe read his book "Sculpting in time"