Stalker is about a group of three Russians (The Stalker, The Writer, and The Professor) venturing into the heavily guarded Zone, a mystical disaster area that is rumored to have a room at its center that can grant a person's inner most desires. Both The Writer and The Professor search for faith and hope, whilst The Stalker merely searches for faith while attempting to supply the lost and uncertain with hope. Also I feel as though its important to know that a “Stalker” is the title for someone who guides people through The Zone, not the weird criminal subclass. On another note, I can’t really say what The Zone is because it’s a major part of the film. That's unfortunately allI can really say as the film is littered with viewer interpretation and metaphysical/spiritual themes.

 

To start off I would like to talk about the characters names or lack thereof. The characters within this film are only ever addressed by nicknames or titles, never by genuine human names. For most stories this would be more than a tad confusing and odd, but in this case it actually works in conjunction with the film’s overall tone and almost storybook themes, as does the aged nature to its presentation. A film aging badly has wreaked havoc to many otherwise splendid works but the aged nature of the film actually aids to its atmosphere in a few slight for crucial ways, for example; the 4:3 aspect ratio not only helps with the framing of the scenes but also giving an almost dream like nature, the same can be said about the slightly scratchy sounds and fuzzy image which heavily contribute to the surreal and dreamlike qualities. On the subject of sound, that leads us to the most import aspect of Stalker’s atmosphere is the deafening silence crossed with the irregular and distorted music that is used sparingly, the music almost reminds me of Sergio Leone’s music but instead of adventure, the music conveys sadness and alienation (also I am including link to the theme tune on youtube, just in case the reader would like to have a listen). For the cinematography only one word can be used to accurately describe it, exquisite. This films belongs with Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon in that you can take a still from any scene and it will look gorgeous, the use of colors and framing makes every scene a visual feast, especially when you consider that almost every scene was shot without sets, or special effects. This also leads to a wierd similarity that Stalker has with The Wizard of Oz(1939) in that the beginning and end of the film are sepia toned while the Zone and Oz are colored. But the thing that most defines this brilliant film is the editing, each scene has very few cuts and the camera remains somewhat stationary, creating an atmosphere of serenity among the unrelenting despair of the Zone and by further extension, soviet era Russia. I don’t mean to purely praise Stalker but I genuinely find nothing worth complaining about, from acting to music to lighting to direction, everything is complete and utter perfection. Even the acting is so engrossing that I found myself to be so captivated that I was no longer paying attention to the subtitles. This film manage to completely sweep me up in scenes when I didn’t know what people were saying, that's how good the actors are. The film also allows for plenty of interpretation that allows for more discussion. So in conclusion, for my cinematography finale I watched one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and I can’t recommend it enough.