Andrei Rublev

I think over time this film has stuck with me even more than Stalker. When I think of religion being expressed powerfully in film, this is always the first film that comes to mind.  I often view films in a very broad, impressionistic way, somewhat similarly to how I view other arts like music or other visual arts like paintings or sculptures. While I do try to evaluate each individual aspect of a film on its own merit, the most important thing for me is how a film comes together as a whole. What’s the overall impression it leaves me with and how strongly it affected me. In those terms, this film has left a very strong impression of me. It’s really evocative. The themes, the mood, the aesthetic, everything just comes together perfectly here. I think it’s the quintessential religious epic, it encompasses everything I could ever ask for in that kind of film. And along with that, it just feels like it came from such a genuine, passionate place in Tarkovsky.