Tarkovsky

by Nathan Dunne (Editor)

Tarkovsky pays tribute to the substantial legacy of Andrei Tarkovsky, the most important Soviet filmmaker of the post-war era, and one of the world’s most renowned cinematic geniuses. His reputation has grown significantly since his death twenty years ago in Paris. Tarkovsky created spiritual, existential films of incredible beauty, repeatedly returning to themes of memory, dreams, childhood and Christianity. Hugely influential on directors such as David Lynch, Steven Soderburgh and Lars Von Trier, he is particularly known for his re-imagining of the science fiction genre in films such as Solaris and Stalker .

Tarkovsky provides a collection of accessible academic essays by leading film studies professionals that explore aspects of Tarkovsky's films including their sociological and psychological dimensions, their cinematic language and their rich symbolism. Contributions include the first ever English translation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous essay on the film Ivan’s Childhood , along with pieces by Harvard professor Stephanie Sandler, film critic and curator James Quandt, and Evgeny Tsymbal, assistant director to Tarkovsky on Stalker .

Tarkovsky is illustrated with original stills along with studio shots, lobby cards, posters and other rare ephemera and contains a wealth of previously unseen material from Soviet archives, making it the definitive text on Tarkovsky’s singularly complex body of work.

Genres: Film

464 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2008

About the author

Nathan Dunne was born in Brisbane, Australia and grew up in India. After graduating from the University of Sydney with the University Medal, he studied art history at Cambridge University and received a PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. He has lectured at Harvard and Yale, and also worked for several years at Tate Modern. As a journalist and critic, he has contributed to many publications, including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Slate and Artforum.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hefty tome of compiled texts on Tarkovsky. Another set of great resources, I used a lot of this info for my class but also would share with them the essay Sartre wrote on "Ivan's Childhood" - a great apologetic.

[Celia Gardine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The images are really well produced and the essays are very thorough and involved. There should be more books like this with so much attention to detail. You really get a sense of what a great artist Tarkovsky was and his fathers poems are strange too.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great compendium of Tarkovsky articles.
Lovely photos.

More info after a detailed read

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BEST

[Timur · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Dodgy'/incompetent editor