Andrei Rublev

Well this was one complex as hell film. I don’t fully understand everything about this film yet, but after having finished it just yesterday, I can definitely say it’s cemented itself in my mind in a way that very few films have. My mind is still buzzing with thoughts. While I can’t quite pinpoint all the emotions it left me with, I can definitely say they’re very strong and complex. It kind of reminds me of the feeling I had when I first watched ‘Uncle Boonmee: Who Can Recall His Past Lives,’ only much more epic in scale. This film is like a giant piece of pure spiritual and emotional expression, told through a series of vignettes chronicling different sections of the lives of three monks. Each vignette builds upon the last, not in a narrative sense but an emotional one, deepening our understanding of these characters' philosophies, feelings, and their positions within the hectic society they inhabit. Tarkovsky is known for his strong poetic and naturalistic sensibilities, and this film exemplifies that more than any other of his works I've seen (which, granted, is only three others). The film is absolutely beautiful, filled with some of the most striking imagery I’ve ever seen. Each surface is rough and tactile, making the environment incredibly tangible—you can almost feel it. The pacing is also incredibly unique, the way events unfold and how the film flows from one point to the next almost brings to mind a large stream of water flowing through the woods. Each character is like a leaf or small twig being carried along that stream, as if watching to see where it takes each one of them, wondering where they’ll end up and how they’ll change by the end. Definitely a feeling that only Tarkovsky could evoke in such a way. It feels like this should be a 5/5 on an emotional level, but I think for now I’m gonna leave it as a 4.5 since as I’ve said, there’s still a lot that I don’t yet fully understand. Definitely a film I need to watch at least one more time to fully make sense of.