The Cinema of Tarkovsky: Labyrinths of Space and Time (KINO - The Russian and Soviet Cinema) Paperback – 10 January 2012

Erudito e Profondo

On the basis of a preliminary browsing this book appears to be a first-class piece of academic film criticism by a native Russian now based in the USA. As an art film buff, I'm encouraged by the fact that such a work of quality can still be published.

Just finished a new book written by Nariman Skakov in 2012 on Tarkovsky that I really liked "The Cinema of Tarkovsky: Labyrinths of Space and Time". It reviews each of Karkovsky's major movies (Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, mirror, stalker, nostalghia, sacrifice) ... and goes through how time is experienced in each movie. Intro is also a great introduction for those not familiar with the film theory of long cuts vs short cuts that was developed in Russia. From a film editor's viewpoint, there's a lot of very interesting food for thought.The book is also is a nice introduction to each movie for those that haven't seen them. You see the techniques used in today's movies a lot, but is interesting to see them in their more raw form. Most of Tarkovsky's movies are not available in blue-ray, and the dvd quality is normally marginal - so I've noticed a lot of people haven't watched them ... but these movies are a gold mine of ideas.I would probably read this book while i watched the movies, then read Tarkovsky's books that have been translated, if i was not familiar with him. The highest quality movie out on blue ray is "Sacrifice", i love the long bicycle shot ... that might be a good movie to watch/read first (though The Mirror is my favorite ... but the DVD quality of that is marginal).