Stalker [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Overview

Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, an allegorical science fiction film like his earlier Solaris, was adapted from the novel Picnic by the Roadside by brothers Boris Strugatsky and Arkady Strugatsky. The film follows three men -- the Scientist (Nikolai Grinko), the Writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn), and the Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) -- as they travel through a mysterious and forbidden territory in the Russian wilderness called the "Zone." In the Zone, nothing is what it seems. Objects change places, the landscape shifts and rearranges itself. It seems as if an unknown intelligence is actively thwarting any attempt to penetrate its borders. In the Zone, there is said to be a bunker, and in the bunker: a magical room which has the power to make wishes come true. The Stalker is the hired guide for the journey who has, through repeated visits to the Zone, become accustomed to its complex traps, pitfalls, and subtle distortions. Only by following his lead (which often involves taking the longest, most frustrating route) can the Writer and the Scientist make it alive to the bunker and the room. As the men travel farther into the Zone, they realize it may take something more than just determination to succeed: it may actually take faith. Increasingly unsure of their deepest desires, they confront the room wondering if they can, in the end, take responsibility for the fulfillment of their own wishes.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2017
UPC:	0715515201018
Original Release:	1979
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:41:00
Sales rank:	1,731

Special Features

New 2K digital restoration; New Interview with Geoff Dyer, author of Zone: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room; Interviews from 2000 Set Designer Rashit Safiullin and Composer Eduard Artemyev; Interview from the mid-1990s with Cinematographer Alexander Knyazhinsky; Plus: An essay by critic Mark Le Fanu

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Natasha Abramova	Marta,Marta, doch Stalkera
Faime Jurno	Sobesednitsa Pisatelya
E. Kostin	Lyuger
R. Rendi	Actor,Patrulnyy politseyskiy
Aleksandr Kaidanowski	Stalker
Anatolij Solonicyn	Pisarz
Alisa Freyndlikh	Zhena Stalkera
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy	Stalker
Anatoliy Solonitsyn	Pisatel,Actor,Actor
Nikolay Grinko	Professor,Scientist
Sergey Yakovlev	Professor
Vladimir Zamanskiy	Sobesednik Professora po telefonu
Anatoly Solonitsin	Actor
F. Yurma	Actor
Emin Khachaturyan	Conductor
Alexander Kaidanovsky	Actor
Alissa Freindlich	Actor
Eduard Artemev	Composer
Eduard Artemyev	Composer

Technical Credits

Andreï Tarkovsky

Arkadiy Strugatskiy

Boris Strugatsky

Arkady Strugatsky

Andreï Tarkovsky	Director,Director,Screenwriter
Alexandra Demidova	Producer,Executive Producer
L. Tarkovskaya	Executive Producer
Arkadiy Strugatskiy	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Boris Strugatsky	Screenwriter
Arkady Strugatsky	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Stalker
1. Opening Credits [3:45]
2. "I Won't Let You Go" [9:31]
3. The Writer [2:40]
4. The Professor [5:55]
5. The Jeep [7:28]
6. The Train [3:47]
7. The Railcar [5:39]
8. Porcupine [5:03]
9. The Zone [3:40]
10. "Are We Ready To Start?" [5:10]
11. The Straight Path [12:57]
12. "Part Two" [8:22]
13. Resting [9:07]
14. Dream [:37]
15. The Pipe [8:04]
16. "You Certainly Are Lucky" [12:50]
17. A Phone Call [6:50]
18. The Threshold [10:39]
19. The Stalker's Wife [22:07]
20. Monkey [12:59]
1. Color Bars [4:21]
Disc #2 -- Stalker
1. Chapter 1 [29:09]
1. Chapter 1 [21:08]
1. Chapter 1 [14:23]
1. Chapter 1 [5:44]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Stalker
   Play The Movie
   Chapters
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
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Disc #2 -- Stalker
   Geoff Dyer
      Play
      Chapters
   Eduard Artemyev
      Play
      Chapters
   Rashit Safiullin
      Play
      Chapters
   Alexander Knyazhinsky
      Play
      Chapters
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

Structured like a winding religious pilgrimage, Stalker moves cautiously and slowly through its paces as the three men move closer toward the metaphorical Holy Center at the heart of the Zone. Telephone poles jutting out of the ground like crosses, religious icons beneath muddy rivers strewn with bullet shells, a miraculous, artificial desert in an underground room -- Tarkovsky's powerful, orthodox images and grimy, industrial settings present a deeply felt religious sentiment stirring beneath a war-ravaged, hostile landscape. Stalker is all the more compelling for not relying on a single gimmick or special effect to create its atmosphere of another world bordering our own.

All Movie Guide - Anthony Reed