Stalker

Few films are as universally loved and respected as Stalker – often paired with 2001 as the pinnacle of science-fiction, more often simply declared to be one of the greatest films ever made. So, why is that? I think the reason for Stalker’s greatness is almost indescribable, which maybe isn’t the best approach to take when reviewing the film, but it’s fair to say I’m not sure any other film has made me feel the way Stalker makes me feel. There’s a famous scene in the film where a young boy moves a glass across a table with his mind and that moment represents to me what Andrei Tarkovsky is doing with Stalker, supernaturally pulling my mind inside of the film’s perplexing atmosphere. This is a film which took well over a year to shoot, which initially completely deteriorated and had to be reshot, which was shot in locations so toxic it later killed its director. There’s filmmaking and then there’s this. In Stalker’s desolate world, a writer and a professor are guided by the eponymous ‘Stalker’ through the wasteland known as the ‘Zone’ in search of a room which they believe will grant them their deepest desires. Through this is Stalker’s psychological reckoning of humanity at the edge of survival and sanity, shot in the manner self-described by Tarkovsky as “sculpting in time.” If you have seen Stalker before then you will surely need to see it again to get closer to understanding it and, if you haven’t, prepare to be wowed by one of the most enduring and unique cinematic spectacles around.

Daniel Kallin

Stalker will be presented on 19th October 2024 from a rare original 35mm print kindly loaned by the BFI National Archive. WSC is proud to be one of few venues nationally who are properly equipped and authorised to bring you these special archived film prints.