Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
Rated 4.8 / 5 from 2 logs on Katalog
I was feeling sad because of many reasons and extremely exhausted because I stayed up all night hunting cockroaches. Was a slow, quiet movie about three somewhat unlikeable men wandering around a mysterious abandoned complex in search of a room that fulfills deepest desires the right movie for my state? Surprisingly, it was. I can’t explain it but it felt soothing and familiar and flexible, like it adapts to any mood you’re in, if you allow yourself to be in it fully, without forcing yourself to feel or think a certain way. Maybe a bit like the room they’re searching for. I will be rewatching it in different moods and see what happens. Now, sleep
It’s really hard to pin this one down. I’ve loved all Tarkovsky films, and this one is no exception. This feels like his most contemplative film so far. The world they are in serves as a backdrop — but a backdrop to what? I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. Our characters enter the ‘Zone’ — that I would find out has nothing to do with Chernobyl, as Stalker came out before that disaster — to find what is lingering on their souls. The Zone is a fantastical, decaying industrial dream, full of mystery and fear and nature overgrowing the concrete and steel. It’s slow, atmospheric, and as with all his movies, if you have similar thoughts weighing on your soul, it will hit you in a very unique way. If you don’t, I can imagine gaining very little from Stalker. Maybe it can help everyone find what they didn’t know they were searching for. It’s complex, with timeless style, sound, imagery and philosophy.
