Mirror

"Father: It seems to make me return to the place, poignantly dear to my heart, where my grandfather's house used to be in which I was born 40 years ago right on the dinner table. Each time I try to enter it, something prevents me from doing that. I see this dream again and again. And when I see those walls made of logs and the dark entrance, even in my dream I become aware that I'm only dreaming it. And the overwhelming joy is clouded by anticipation of awakening. At times something happens and I stop dreaming of the house and the pine trees of my childhood around it. Then I get depressed. And I can't wait to see this dream in which I'l be a child again and feel happy again because everything will still be ahead, everything will be possible..." The entire film could be described with the monologue spoken aloud above. Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky is a poetic masterpiece. This film is like abstract art in a museum gallery, forming a sentimental, non-linear, nearly two-hour poem. ​Mirror feels like a flashback before death. It is a collection of sentimental memories that Tarkovsky composed as poetry. This film is supposed to be felt, not understood; to feel it is the way to understand the film itself. Tarkovsky himself often said his films weren't puzzles to be solved, but experiences to be felt. ​Mirror, as the title suggests, is a reflective work. It invites the audience to feel—in their own individual way—memories of their childhood, parenthood, and the core memories that each of us holds important. To me, Mirror somehow felt like the sleep paralysis that haunts me, as I have a deep personal connection with my parents' memories. Rest in peace, Mother and Father.