Nostalgia

What an incredible final shot. What an absolutely breathtaking third act. Around ten or fifteen minutes after finishing this film, while I was sitting there reflecting on what it had made me think and feel, I couldn't do anything but cry. This is the second Tarkovsky film to have that effect on me. You can immediately feel that this is an incredibly personal film. It feels as though Tarkovsky is narrating the thoughts and emotions that lived within his own mind, and there's something profoundly beautiful about that. It explores so many different themes, yet all of them carry the same spiritual weight that seems to define his work. And, just like with all of his films, it's almost impossible to put into words what it truly means beyond the deeply personal experience it creates within you. As someone who left his country at eighteen and hasn't been able to see in person the people with whom I shared such a significant part of my life since then, this film resonated with me in ways I wasn't expecting. Not only because of the people I miss, but perhaps even because of the places too—even though I've always convinced myself that places were never an important part of what I longed for. The constant search for somewhere that makes you feel the way you once did. How long can you keep retracing the same steps while protecting your ideals and passions without giving up? How far can someone go after marrying an idea so completely that it becomes something extreme? How much conviction and resilience can you show before finally refusing to bend before temptation or those who constantly try to make you fall? Those are only the first thoughts that come to my mind, and I genuinely feel like I could write so much more about how this film made me feel. Tarkovsky continues to never disappoint. I truly don't think I can see the world in quite the same way after discovering his cinema. He has undoubtedly marked a before and after in the way I see, appreciate, and experience life. And forever, I'll carry with me the words that have appeared throughout his films—phrases so powerful that they feel impossible to forget. “Poetry is untranslatable, just like all art.” “Unspoken feelings are unforgettable.” “One drop plus one drop makes a bigger drop, not two.”