Stalker

An uncanny cinematic landscape to explore, investigate, and reflect upon, Stalker is an immersive and unwavering search for meaning in terms of what appears onscreen and how audiences have responded since its release in 1979. Andrei Tarkovsky’s metaphysical epic unfolds in a post-apocalypse that serves as an entrenched allegory for the power of belief. Despite the ruined earth setting, this is not a commercial genre film populated by the usual shattered-world tropes of authoritarian rule, tribalism, retrofuturist technology, and desperate battles over resources. Although it contains some familiar aspects of the genre, the great Russian filmmaker repurposes them in a spiritual search for external and existential answers. Whether viewed as a metaphor for religious faith, a meditation on the mystery of consciousness, or a testament to the power of artistic creation, Stalker has continued to transfix and fascinate viewers and influence creatives. The director’s second foray into science fiction, after 1972’s brilliant Solaris, once again draws upon popular source material as a springboard for something more defiantly original, indefinable, and specific to Tarkovsky’s worldview and concerns as an artist.

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