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Reviews
Zerkalo (1975)
Tops
It's not easy to make such judgments, but this is my favorite film. A personal choice, for sure, but what MIRROR achieves is the height of poetry and literature. Its final moment, if it works for you (and I can imagine it wouldn't for all), is a success of the "method of indirection" sought by poetry. Its effect is cumulative and devastating.
People often stress the difficulty of this film, but my only answer is to allow it to wash over you and allow it to have its effect. The first time I saw it, I was amazed, but a little baffled. The second time I cried. Each time since then I've teared up, if not actually wept. Its presentation, in its last shots, of the totality of the human experience, combined with the Bach's St John Passion, crushes me every time. And I'm not even Russian. Nor am I religious--this is the closest I get to religion. You just have to be human to understand MIRROR. This is the way of all Tarkovsky.
Lola (1961)
Wonderful
LOLA is a wonderful movie. It may not have the intensity of THE UMBRELLAS or even YOUNG GIRLS, but it is the beginning of the Demy sensibility that came to fruition in those films. The difference is that in LOLA he takes more from the contemporary films scene, bowing to his peers as well as his predecessors. Despite criticisms, the effect of the film, its music and playful qualities, its excellent acting and camera, still puts contemporary films to shame.