Film festival shines a spotlight on Tarkovsky

The Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), that will be held across different venues in the city from February 27 to March 4, will showcase the best of work Indian and world cinema. This year, up for discussion in the retrospective section of the festival, are the works of two legends in Indian and world cinema — Anant Nag and Andrei Tarkovsky. The latter has inspired many an Indian filmmaker. Some of Andrei’s films that will be discussed at Biffes are ‘Andrei Rublev,’ ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, ‘Nostalgia’, ‘Solaris’, ‘The Mirror’ and ‘Stalker.’ Film writer, author and critic Babu Subramanian has been following Tarkovsky’s work very closely for over four decades and has written extensively on the man himself. In an interview with Metrolife, Babu, talks about why discussing Tarkovsky and his work is relevant now more than ever.

Which of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films do you think has made a difference to the way filmmakers look at subjects?

Tarkovsky’s first film ‘Ivan’s Childhood’ (1962) has been an inspiration for a number of filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov and Krzysztof Kielowski. Among them, Sergei Parajanov was the most influenced. He shunned social realism and developed a poetic style which can be seen in his films such as ‘The Color of Pomegranates’ (1969) about an Armenian poet and ‘Ashik Kerib’ (1988) on Azerbaijani culture. He dedicated the latter film to his close friend Tarkovsky. Of all the films of Tarkovsky, the most influential is ‘Stalker’ (1979). Its dystopian mis-en-scene has inspired a number of dystopian future-shock thrillers such as David Fincher’s ‘Alien 3’ (1992), ‘The Road’ (2009) by John Hillcoat and Zone’ (2012) by Finnish director Esa Luttinen, which was a remake of ‘Stalker.’

Why do you think he was the most influential of his time? What were some of his qualities that stood out?

Cinema is a relatively new art form. Film theoreticians have probed into the nature of the medium to find out what is distinct about cinema as a medium. In his book, ‘Sculpting in Time’, Tarkovsky has addressed this question. He has written that each art-form has its unique formative element such as “word” for novel, “character” for drama and “colour” for painting. Tarkovsky has argued that for cinema the formative element is “time”. A finished film for him is a collection of passages of time. This is not just theory but we can see it applied in his films. Tarkovsky shares a number of qualities with romantic poets such as Blake and Wordsworth. Creating a world of imagination is one of them. Wordsworth’s “emotion recollected in tranquillity” finds its echo in Tarkovsky’s retrospective imagery. Yearning for the past with its elegiac mood, deploring progress and feeling of anguish at spiritual decay are all typical traits of the romantic poets.

Is there an Indian filmmaker who matches the qualities of Andrei Tarkovsky?

It’s hard to find an Indian equivalent of Tarkovsky but the Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak may come close to Tarkovky’s romanticism. For example, like in Tarkovsky’s films, in Ghatak’s ‘Subarnarekha’ too there is the unhappy present for the protagonist, the feeling of a lost home and a note of hope in the end despite all the miseries that the protagonist has gone through. Interestingly, hope is in the form of the infant boy as in Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’.

Again, there are differences. It is nostalgia for the lost land (East Bengal) from where he was uprooted in the case of Ghatak whereas with Tarkovsky it is not just the historical past but yearning for the Garden of Eden. Melodrama is part of Ghatak’s aesthetics but it has no place in Tarkovsky’s cinema.

Why should Andrei Tarkovsky be discussed more like it is being done at BIFFes?

A number of youngsters have learnt filmmaking skills but they find themselves not equipped enough to make world-class films. What they lack in general is lack of exposure to international cinema.

It is only by studying the films of masters such as Andrei Tarkovsky that they can learn how to make great films. Tarkovsky is not just for budding filmmakers, he is also for film buffs too. Tarkovsky’s films are like a treasure to delve into his aesthetics and metaphysics.