Andrei Tarkovsky Retrospective at NYC’s MAD: Sculpting in Time

Tarkovsky’s Solaris opens with mesmerising visuals of the natural earth, emphasising the tactile grandeur of what it has to offer – from there, the near entire rest of the film is set in space, on a vessel living in a sentient ocean. Though the film, categorically, is science fiction, its strongest thematic and narrative features are those qualifying it for the psychological genre.

These feats are part of what makes Tarkovsky so preeminent, so profound and so influential as a filmmaker. The Soviet-Russian cineaste is being honoured at New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design through August in a comprehensive retrospective titled Sculpting in Time, the name he coined his filmic techniques regarding chronology. The series includes screenings of each of his oeuvre’s seven feature films, plus the documentary Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, a film examining his meticulous creativity and cinematic craft.

The first screening, Solaris in 35 mm, kicked off the retrospective, and will be followed with a film each Friday up till August 28: Stalker, the iconic sci-fi film that likewise dabbles in the psychological; Ivan’s Childhood, Tarkovsky’s WWII-set debut feature; Andrei Rublev, the historical chronicling of the fifteenth-century Russian painter; the loosely autobiographical The Mirror; Nostalghia, a drama notable in Tarkovsky’s oeuvre for its exploration of spatial settings outside of the country of Russia; and The Sacrifice, the auteur’s final film, which beckons engagement with the nature of man and how it operates in crises; ending with Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Largely and indisputably considered a poetic filmmaker, Tarkovsky’s works on the big screen at Museum of Arts and Design are full of wonder, and leave not only the fanatic but also the unfamiliar viewer in awe of the virtuoso’s powerful manipulations of human psychology, visual language, and narrative congruency.

Find more information on tickets, series schedule, and more here.

00_Solaris, 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky, image courtesy of Kino Lorber

Solaris, 1972

01_Andrei Rublev, 1966, Andrei Tarkovsky, image courtesy of Kino Lorber

Andrei Rublev, 1966

01_Ivan's Childhood, 1962, Andrei Tarkovsky, image courtesy of Kino Lorber.jpg

Ivan’s Childhood, 1962

01_Nostalhia, 1983, Andrei Tarkovsky, image courtesy of Kino Lorber

Nostalgia, 1983

01_The Mirror, 1975, Andrei Tarkovsky, image courtesy of Kino Lorber

The Mirror, 1975

by Emily Rae Pellerin

Stills from the films of Andrei Tarkovsky via Kino Lorber and the Museum of Arts and Design

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