The titular protagonist leads a writer and a professor across the forbidden Zone in search of a fabled room where wishes are supposedly granted. With its slow pacing and striking symbolism, Andrei Tarkovsky’s morose blend of sci-fi, political allegory and philosophical rumination invites many interpretations; undoubtedly, however, it concerns the necessity and difficulty of faith in a damaged and repressive world.

“The film that has most insistently found its way into my dreams. That lengthy trolley-car ride early on is like a ferry across the River Styx, or the moment in sleep between the real world blurring away and the appearance of the counterfeit images that our brains manifest. Only a director like Tarkovsky could take this mysterious, slumbering landscape and fill it with metaphysical currents; the result is that every pebble, blade of grass, bridge and power line seem like the fingers and toes of a sleeping giant.” David Heslin

“A masterwork of pacing, elemental precision and breathtaking patience. One of the most beautiful films ever made.” Akira Mizuta LipPit

“I know of no better film about the human soul.” Andreas Kilb

Film	Year	Director
Taste of Cherry	1997	Abbas Kiarostami
Le FILS	2002	Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
L' HUMANITÉ	1999	Bruno Dumont
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles	1975	Chantal Akerman
Elephant	2003	Gus Van Sant
Japon	2002	Carlos Reygadas
SHARASOJYU	2003	Naomi Kawase
Amour	2012	Michael Haneke
Stalker	1979	Andrei Tarkovsky
A Man Escaped	1956	Robert Bresson

Laura Wandel

Voted for