The Mirror
by Andrei Tarkovsky
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DVD details
Actor: Filipp Yankovsky, Ignat Daniltsev, Margarita Terekhova, Nikolai Grinko, Oleg YankovskiyDirector: Andrei Tarkovsky
Brand: Kino Video
Cinematographer: Georgi Rerberg
Writer: Andrei Tarkovsky
Editor: Lyudmila Feiginova
Producer: Erik Waisberg
Writer: Aleksandr Misharin
Writer: Arseni Tarkovsky
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Russian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-04-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kino Video
DVD Reviews of The Mirror
DVD Review: Do not miss the plot
Summary: 5 Stars
The points made by other reviewers about this film's nonlinearity and being much like poetry are, of course, valid. I remember seeing it for the first time back in the 70s and realising that I was in the presence of a radically new kind of art: exciting and powerful but also almost alien, as if the film had been imported from Mars. Then the world cinema started to catch up little by little, but as the 80s turned into the 90s the mainstream went simplistic again, and today's young viewers of the 'Mirror' are, in all likelihood, having the very same thoughts about a film from Mars. We can only guess whether the new language of cinema introduced by Tarkovsky 35 years ago will ever be widely adopted.
However, there is a coherent story there too - and its existence is often missed or even vehemently denied. It is essentially the life story of the narrator, who never appears in the frame, but through whose eyes many of the scenes are presented. The man has his share of human flaws, yet his perception is particularly sharp, and his mind and spirit are attuned to the history and destiny of his country and to the cultural heritage of the humankind - the latter represented in the film by the music and visual references to famous paintings, which elevate the action and place it in the global context. There are repeated hints in the film that these personal qualities - a mixed blessing to put it mildly - run in the family and hence will go on even though the narrator dies in his 40s. The words of the smoking doctor in the deathbed scene (who is played by the co-author of the screenplay) are mistranslated in the English subtitles, but the key part comes across: the man is dying because there are such things as memory and conscience.
The storyline requires a bit of effort to comprehend - not because it was made obscure by Tarkovsky, but because of the impact of the following factors:
First of all, the action moves backwards and forwards between three time planes: 1930s, 1940s and 1970s. Recognisable time markers are provided most of the time, but it is still possible to get confused, so it is important to pay full attention to what is shown and said. This difficulty is not unlike the one that a reader might have in comprehending the storyline of 'The Sound and the Fury' by Faulkner, who at one stage even contemplated a special edition of the novel with fragments set in different time printed in different colours.
Secondly, what we see in the film is not only the supposed reality but also memories (distorted as they always are), dreams (with their own logic that can never be fully grasped) and prophetic visions (one example: a boy on a snow-covered hillside takes in the view which re-creates the 'Hunters in the Snow' by Bruegel, and sees not only the forthcoming end of the war but also the much later border conflict with China). Again, it is not too difficult to figure out which scene falls into which category.
Thirdly, the same actress plays the narrator's mother and his ex-wife. Similar things have been done in many other films; nevertheless, I heard form several people that this, rather than anything else, was what confused them most in the 'Mirror'. In fact, the two characters look, act and speak considerably differently (a credit to the actress!), and in any case the time plane of any given episode makes it clear which of the two women appears in it: nobody is time-travelling in this film, except for the very last sequence where time is warped or rather absent altogether.
Those factors are vital for the structure of the 'Mirror' and contribute to its outstanding artistic qualities and cult status, but they can also put off viewers who are either unable or unwilling to play by the rules laid down by Tarkovsky. But then again, isn't this problem common to all true art?
DVD Review: 3 stars for the DVD, not the the (masterpiece!) film
Summary: 3 Stars
I have three versions of the film on DVD now--the Kino, the Ruscico, and the Russian Krupny Plan version (without subtitles).
Kino's transfer is not bad considering its age; my main critique is that the color balance is overly cool. The RUSCICO edition looks better in some respects but the print is slightly pinkish and some of the scenes are transfered overly bright, as Vlad, another reviewer, has noted.
I agree that Kino's subtitles are frustratingly incomplete in several dialogue scenes. It's a pity, because there are many wonderful small exchanges between the characters that really add texture to the script. The RUSCICO subtitles are more complete but they terribly botch the poetry, which is central to the film's effect. That sin is not easily forgiven, and for that reason alone you should get the Kino version.
Visually, neither version can hold a candle to the stunning new digital restoration that Mosfilm has released on DVD in Russia through Krupny Plan. In an ideal world, Kino would license the new Mosfilm transfer and beef up the subtitles. In the meantime, you might as well go with the current Kino DVD. "The Mirror" is Tarkovsky's greatest work and a masterpiece of world cinema--it's the kind of film you find yourself returning to now and then to savor its elusive beauty.
DVD Review: One of the finest films ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an unforgetable movie, a fantastic examination of childhood, motherhood, and memory, personal and universal.DVD Review: The Force of Memory
Summary: 4 Stars
'The Mirror' is Tarkovsky's autobiographical masterpiece about which there is both little and a lot to say. As all his work, seeing this movie is something one must experience as it is such a different kind of cinema as that of any other director. Not a movie for those with a short attention span one could argue that The Mirror is about the overwhelming power that memories can have on our lives. As stated the movie more or less is autobiographic as we see Tarkovsky's childhood years in the country, to which many Russians fled from WWII, brought there by his mother. His father, the famous Russian poet Arsenii Tarkovsky is not present, except through citations from his poetry by means of a voice over, while we look at beautiful Russian scenery or archive images of soldiers walking through swamps. Apart from a visual feast the movie also offers an auditorial banquet not only of recited poems but also wonderful music, which plays a crucial part (as always in Tarkovsky's movies).
The story timeline of the movie at first viewing may prove to be somewhat confusing, as there is continuous interplay between past and present. In the present time of the movie the main character is a divorced man, obviously an intellectual, who both spiritually as well as emotionally is in a crisis. In this state he has a series of childhood recollections and the movie throws in an extra free of charge bit of 20th century Russian history into the mix. It is shown how he grew up in the country, how Spanish civil war survivors fled to Russia, how he was military trained in Leningrad as a boy during WWII and got to know his first love, how his mother lived in a printing shop under Stalin's censorship, Soviet-Chinese border tensions after the Chinese revolution etc.
Confusing in all this is that his mother in the flashbacks is played by the same actress as the main protagonist's current ex-wife, even though he says as much in a phonecall with his ex that when he has childhood recollections of his mother she always looks like his ex. The story itself is pretty simple, but it's complex through the way it is structured, especially the first time one sees the movie, but this is true for any Tarkovsky movie. Each movie should be watched at least three times to get any kind of understanding of what they are about, which however doesn't mean one can't immensely enjoy them first time around. What worked for me on first viewings was not over analyzing too much and simply let the movie take me along, the perfect acting, the beauty of the images, the musical splendor and magnificent poetry.
This was the first Tarkovsky movie I ever saw a long time ago and it changed the way I looked at art in general and cinema in particular.
It's my sincere wish to any Tarkovsky 'newbie' to have a similar wonderful experience.
The one star missing in my judgment is due to the rather bad visual quality of this release, which is quite a shame and, as a Russian friend assured me, quite bad translation. (Luckily Moskwood did a better job on both counts.)
DVD Review: IF YOU LIKE THIS POEM, THIS MOVIE'S FOR YOU, OR YOU HAVE A BRAIN TUMOR
Summary: 1 Stars
'A man has one body/so solitary/The soul is sick/of this solid sheath.../with eyes and ears the size of buttons.../and skin, a mass of scars,/a skeleton's robe' ... And on and on for 30 lines of VO commentary over cryptic visuals of obtuse behavior which relate not in any way I can see with the other dour, jumbled, drumming elements of this pastiche of words and pictures that have no meaning or connection.
This is not an entertaining film. Nor edifying or interesting. Other reviews have said, like it's a good thing, that audiences were churned and divided. Must be true. And frustrated and confused and wishing the jumble of meaningless scenes faded quickly.
I have other AT films, like Solaris and Stalker. Each much better than this whatever it is. The case cover says 'Extraordinarily Beautiful'; not so. Also it says 'Haunting masterpiece'; half-right, haunting it is, but not in a good way. Save your rubles for vodka.
Description of The Mirror
Nostalgic visions of the late directors childhood in war torn exile with stunning slow motion dream sequences and stark world war ii. Studio: Kino International Release Date: 03/07/2000 Starring: Klaus Maria Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Andrei TarkovskyGeneral DVDs
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