Stalker is a highly artistic piece of work. Everything is set up, except the viewer must bring their imagination and put it into the film (here there are not special effects to do the work for you). Whoever does make the effort to make believe will be rewarded with a great film experience. It is like music where if you put something into listening to it, you can get out of it richness of it and the soul that was put into it. The film content is like song lyrics, a bit cryptic and mysterious, but it does not have to be (completely) understood in order to be enjoyed. This film is basically about what people long for and how it makes them be what they are as they relate to each other (i.e. "Everybody's looking for something.") As with other Tarkovsky films, the world in which it is set is alive with natural and supernatural forces. The location could hardly be more perfect: an abandoned and overgrown power plant in Cold War era Russia; it is the kind of place that you can make believe is alive with hidden alien magic. The soundtrack of the film does a great job of setting the mood, and feels both eerie and meditative. Finally, the acting is very good and appropriate for a sci-fi film. This is the type of film which needs performances that are serious, performances that make it be as if the actors are the characters, that they are in that world, and it is all real. We get that in Stalker, and are treated to a feeling like anything can happen. That makes the film a personal favorite and highly recommended to the philosophical and the imaginative, particularly to sensing intuitive types.

5.0 / 5.0