Italy is a very attractive place for filmmakers, because of its art, architecture, the lighting, and also film history. Many filmmakers go to Italy and immerse themselves in the people and the culture, the light and the atmosphere. Tarkovsky goes to Italy and he makes it as dank, dark, and unpopulated as he makes Russia. And, while in Italy, he has a few things to say about Italians--to explain Russia.

"Then you can't understand Italy, because you're not Italian." A poet goes to Italy to research into the biography of a Russian composer who stayed there for two years, and his life parallels that of the composer. Just so, Tarkovsky's life parallels that of the main character, who is also called Andrei: left in Italy surrounded by so much "beauty it's sickening", he becomes haunted by flashbacks of his family in Russia. Trying unsuccessfully to communicate with his translator (get it?) and striking a metaphysical relationship with a local mystic, Andrei the character struggles with the typical Tarkovskian themes of faith, fire, personal loss, and water, among others.

Tarkovsky is up to some well-rehearsed tricks here. Long takes with an impossibly smooth floating camera dedicate the viewer's eyes to the imagery. The weather is under the same amount of control. A character enters a new space (here it's Italy; in Stalker it's the Zone; in Solyaris it's the space station; in Andrei Rublev it's the society outside the church), and only through intense emotional and philosophical struggle can he prepare himself to return to where he's come from. Thresholds stand tantalizingly around, but don't often get passed (Andrei can walk through a door that leads nowhere with no problem, but can only cross a pool with a candle with immense physical struggle). Spaces are separated by black and white and sepia tones. God is always there but never for you.

There's some new tricks, too. Tarkovsky plays with light a lot in this one, and frames that seem to sink into pure black suddenly illuminate hidden images and icons. A compelling sonic disturbance is created in flashbacks to Russia that sound like a table-saw grinding away at wood; "The Music" the mystic speaks of is warped and fragmented vinyl.

Nostalghia, I feel, is not the Tarkovsky movie you want to see first. First see Stalker, or Solyaris, or Mirror. Nostalghia removes the transition from Russia to Italy and so the feeling of transition and change is a lot more dependent on the symbolic and abstract sensibilities, and previous knowledge of Tarkovsky's imagery will help to interpret it. For fans of Tarkovsky, however, Nostalghia is a sweet and personal return into his dense and foggy mind (or house, as Chris Marker calls it), the world that only he was able to fully explore.

--PolarisDiB

"Nostalghia" is a Soviet/Italian co-production from 1983, so this one is over 35 years old now and despite this age one of the final works by writer and director Andrei Tarkovsky. You can see by the onclusion of another, an Italian, writer here that this film is not as Russian/Soviet as most of his other works, even if Russian is the dominant language. But there are also large parts in Italian and if you know Tarkovsky's poetic narration style at times, the wonderful Italian language can only work in his and the film's favor. I won't/can't say too much about the cast here. The lead actor is Oleg Yankovskiy and I don't know him. As for his female counterpart I am a bit surprised she really wasn't a prolific actress and Josephson from Sweden is an actor you also would not expect in a film like this, but it kinda fits as he worked with Bergman and Bergman and Tarkovsky do have parallels. But back to this film now. At slightly over two hours it is far from Tarkovsky's longest works. But there are other parallels, like that once again he mixes color scene with black-and-white. I was missing the dwarf here though. Or another parallel that you will hardly find any funny moments. My crows badly needed them as I saw from how they burst into laughter when this father goes up with his child to listen some music after the argument between the two lead characters.

Still, Russian/Italian is a rare combination in moves really. I mean with the mob from both countries, you could probably make fantastic crime movies, but obviously this is not the genre to expect here with Tarkovsky. Instead we have an artist from Russia coming to Italy to explore the past of his subject. And with him he brings the woman he desires. Or does he? Does she? It is never completely clear what the relationship between the two is like in detail. But they both have their moments with how the characters are written and with that I am also referring to the female's job in translation. Actually it was a bit funny, more subtly funny, how Tarkovsky somewhat made fun of himself with how art is impossible to be translated without the artistic component getting lost and the writer he mentions there is even called Tarkovsky too. Aside from that, fire is a big recurring aspect in this film culminating in a character being burnt alive. The rain before the clothing credits felt almost a bit soothing I must say. The character up there screaming all these phrases in Italian was among the more memorable. So was the priest early on too with his old very traditional perception of the woman's role in relationships.

Freude schöner Götterfunken I am always fond of certainly, but here it was obviously with how it ended used in a very destructive and sarcastic manner. It worked. I liked it. I liked this film overall thanks to individual scenes more than other stuff from Tarkovsky I have seen, probably also because it was shorter and less shallow and less pretentious. Still, story is key as always and even with good lead performances, I was just not won over in a way that U genuinely cared what would happen next. To them or in total. So this one is another thumbs-down for me. Tarkovsky is just not my thing, so it is difficult to understand the awards recognition, for this one here and in general. Watch something else instead.

While I do rank Andrei Rublev(the greatest Soviet film ever made from personal view), Mirror(Tarkovsky's most personal) and Stalker above it, Nostalgia doesn't disappoint in any way; coming from a director who was one of the few who did not make a bad film, even my least favourite Ivan's Childhood was great and contains one of the best child performances ever.

Nostalgia is not for everybody, despite being one of his shortest it is one of Tarkovsky's least accessible along with Solaris. People will be captivated by the photography, the symbolism and direction amongst other things while others will find the slow pacing too much for them, mightn't completely understand what's going on or maybe find it repetitive. As said already, this viewer is one of those people who considers it another Tarkovsky masterpiece. It's not a Tarkovsky film without beautiful visuals and imagery and great directing and Nostalgia absolutely has both. The mix of black and white and colour are truly striking while the photography(the most interesting being the lengthy but hypnotic lighted candle sequence) like all Tarkovsky films is some of the most stunning and arresting seen for any film. Tarkovsky's direction as ever is exemplary even late in his career, despite being his first Non-Soviet film Tarkovsky's unique style is unmistakable. The symbolism is fairly straightforward and still powerful.

Nostalgia's music score is hauntingly melancholic and the dialogue is thoughtful and subtle, the desolation of art speech contains some of the most thought-provoking dialogue of any Tarkovsky film. With the story, the slow pacing did not bother me at all. Quite the opposite, because a lot of parts were so dream-like and mystical it was so easy to be captivated by it. The story itself is one of Tarkovsky's most personal(second only to Mirror) and has its fair share of emotional power, if not as much as Andrei Rublev and Solaris. The characters carry the film well and the performances are fine, Oleg Yankovsky is a compelling lead and Erland Josephson is appropriately distinguished and better than he is given credit for here. Overall, not one of Tarkovsky's best but doesn't disappoint at all. 10/10 Bethany Cox