Mirror (1975)
Inside the Russian psyche.
Presentation:
If you wanted Russian literature in a visual format, Mirror is as close as you can get to Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. I want to say this is an art house film, but it’s so thematically heavy that it transcends above the genre into literature territory. There will be many viewers that should feel tired by the cinephillic elitism in this film, but perhaps maybe is actually is just that profound? Tarkovsky accomplishes something spectacular in this film, which is to delve into the Russian psyche through non-linear evocative imagery. The lensing and direct framing build a strong perspective that make you feel like you are a Russian boy pre and post-World War II. It perfectly captures the feeling of memories through its stream of consciousness storytelling, which may not be as entertaining as his sci-fi films but whose intimacy lends to a more provocative experience. Charged images of a mother bending over doing chores capture a beautiful motherliness that console us into a tender dream. The film shifts between color and black and white somewhat arbitrarily to develop a surreal trance. It’s quite confusing to follow the story, but I don’t think it matters as much as the feeling it evokes.
Conclusion:
Do you want the Russian experience for 2 hours? Sort of like all Tarkovsky’s work, this is an experience rather than a film, which falls under art cinema. It surely inspires the type of work art students will try to replicate as well as Christopher Nolan when he made Memento. You will probably not grasp the details of a story, but like a dream it doesn’t really matter. Tarkovsky has managed to capture the essence of memory and the Russian zeitgeist in the process. These are the type of images that will likely stay burned into your subconscious for unexplainable reasons. I’m usually critical of overly poetic films - and this is as egregious as it with Russian poetry narrating significant portions of the film - but this is an exception and does make a case for one of the greatest films in Russian cinema.
Recommendations
Inside the Russian psyche.