Daily Movie Rec 3/7/24
Mirror (1975)
"I'd give my life of my own free will, had life's swift needle not drawn me through this world like a thread."
Directed by: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cinematography by: Georgi Rerberg
Country: Soviet Union
Plot:
A dying poet recalls his past and the history and culture of his nation.
Reasons to watch:
While making Mirror, Andrei Tarkovsky had a revelation of how personal a film can be, a true expression of self that can reverberate and alter the entire fabric of a filmmaker's life rather than being just another addition to a filmography for a faceless audience. The venerated Russian arthouse director sought to blend dreams, memories, and newsreel footage with his own father's poetry to create a non-linear, loosely autobiographical film in which the adult character never appears on screen - telling a story that's better understood as a lucid poem rather than a conventional narrative. It feels impenetrable if one tries to shape the film with their own desired structure because Mirror's enigmatic power comes precisely from its lack of structure; it's a stream of consciousness intended to be formless, to wash over us like a flowing tide, only to recede back into the ocean of its creator's psyche, giving us glimpses and moments into the workings of a poet's mind, an artist's inner world. As always, Tarkovsky's painterly images and masterful artistry convey a metaphysical significance that ferries willing viewers into the boundless and unseen spiritual landscape that ripples beneath cinema's flickering frames.
Where to watch:
The Criterion Channel
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