The Mirror - Zerkalo - (1975) - Movie Review

It’s much easier to respect Andrei Tarkovsky than it is to like him. My first introduction to his filmography was Stalker, a vaguely Soviet-period sci-fi philosophical road movie about three men and their journey into a mystical, Area 51-esque underworld called The Zone. The Mirror, on the other hand, mostly keeps its feet firmly on the ground. A semi-autobiographical story, it has a strong sense of historical place (Soviet Russia in the 40’s, 60’s and 70’s).  It feels like the more accessible of the two films, despite its complex, abstract nature, and it is a strange but chillingly beautiful movie.

The friend with whom I saw the film said it came into being because Tarkovsky was trying to exorcise his recurring dreams (he was successful.) It’s true, the story feels like a vast, puzzling experience of catharsis, though relief is mingled with the bittersweet dissatisfaction of loss.

The main character is Alexei “Alyosha”, a thinly veiled representation of Tarkovsky himself. Many of Alexei’s problems stem from his troubled past, and he (or the camera, at least) goes back to several periods in his life, attempting to untangle memory from truth. Tarkovsky’s tracking shots, moving slowly through the doors of a house, have an entrancing quality, drawing us into a world which feels four-dimensional, beckoning us inside a fully-realized, tangible space.

Minireview: Seven Pounds

An overlong, meandering tale of guilt and sacrifice. I think the story itself could have been told with more power via a linear, compact story-line, but this unusual technique does manage to distract from some of the larger plot-holes. Will Smith's emotional distance also moves us away from sentimentality - one scene near the beginning works well to confuse us as to his true character. The air of mystery is intriguing, but I doubt it work on a second viewing. Rosario Dawson was great, providing all the heart, while Barry Pepper and Woody Harrelson are underused.

In the end, it all feels a bit empty - it's hard to understand our odd, emotionless protagonist, much less his motivations for what he does. The Christological theme was interesting, but given where the film ends up, unnecessary and incorrect. The whole film is rather pretentious, in retrospect.

2.5/5 stars

Hannah Long