Nostalghia

Slow down. Breathe deep. And submerge yourself into this cinematic masterpiece.

The movie is dedicated to the director’s mother, who I assume died from boredom watching her son’s film.

While it is probably safe to say that the films of Andrei Tarkovsky are not to the tastes of all audiences, it is also clear that Tarkovsky probably understood the language of cinema more than any other director. In Nostalgia, a Russian researcher (Oleg Yanovsky), accompanied by an Italian interpreter (Domiziana Giordano), travels to Italy to research the life of a composer. When he crosses paths with doomsayer Domenico (Erland Josephson), the course of his life is altered. Deeply philosophical, the story does seem a bit obtuse at times, but the visuals throughout are absolutely stunning as Tarkovsky perfectly frames and executes every shot, many of them lasting several minutes, with razor-sharp clarity and creativity. While Nostalgia may not be his finest work, it remains an impressive visual achievement.

Loose chronology, autobiographical elements, dreamlike sequences, thematically dense, slowly paced ... do you think that this Tarkovsky fella has a type? Though not one of the director's more immediately sweeping films (lacking the scale of films such as Stalker or Solaris) and treading on familiar territory stylistically despite being one of his last feature film projects, Nostalghia is still another great work from the acclaimed Soviet (or by this point, de facto ex-Soviet) director. A highly introspective piece, the plot revolves around internal longing and external disconnection - characters recognizing echoes of themselves in those around them but unable to rectify more superficial distinctions. Yankovsky's Andrei is a stranger in a foreign land (much like Tarkovsky himself), seeing familiarity in the emotions that surround him in the Italian countryside but finding only longing for their more familiar equivalents that he has lost access to. And yet, life goes on in all of its strange and miraculous beauty and tragedy, independent of what we perceive our role to be or what emotions we feel. Even among Tarkovsky films, Nostalghia gives off the sensation that it is one of the more languid despite barely passing the two hour mark, largely thanks to its lack of explicit plot, chronological progression, or real conflict. Regardless, it's worth making the effort to make your way through for one of the director's slightly lesser-known but dense and ponderous masterpieces that gives plenty of room for contemplation. (4/5)

Mistério construído a partir do nada, cheio de reflexões filosóficas e poéticas, beirando o surrealismo.

Incredible, astounding, mind-blowing, poetic, masterful, hypnotic, spellbinding. Words are not enough. This is one of Tarkovsky's masterpieces. Along with "Mirror", it has become my favorite of his movies (and I have now seen them all), followed closely by Ivan's Childhood.

Complex, non-linear and very slow-paced Nostalgia is difficult to swallow even by Tarkovsky standard. The movie deals with the questions of faith, human relationships, the possibility of art language translation and many others. Definitely not the movie to get acquainted with Tarkovsky, but necessary to see if you want to make the full impression of the master's work.

45 minutes is about all I could handle of watching Tarkovsky's remains aimlessly reveling in their own gasses.

As always an amazing movie by Tarkovsky! The cinematography of the movie is brutal. It's a pleasure for the eye to watch. The woman is very beautiful and reminds of Venera. The plot is very well put and the narratives deeply philosophical. What I liked most about the movie was the poetics, which the director uses -some might even call it mysticism. Recommended for everyone! Tarkovsky is Tarkovsky!

One of the best movies I've ever seen.