I believe the previous reviewer has missed the point of Sokurov's masterful elegy. This film's purpose is not to provide biographical information, nor to provide insight into Tarkovsky's working process or legacy. 'Moscow Elegy' manipulates a great deal of footage from other Tarkovsky documentaries, notably 'One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich' and 'Tempo di Viaggio.' Rather, 'Moscow Elegy' should be seen as an artistic meditation on what it means to live, to die, and to leave one's traces in artistic works. In this regard, the film is largely successful. It is, perhaps, most affecting when seen AFTER the Tarkovsky's oeuvre and documentaries.
3 Reviews
Incredibly disappointing
nephihaha1 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
As someone who has enjoyed both some of the films of Tarkovsky, and some of those of Sokurov, I was extremely underwhelmed by this "slice and splice" documentary.
The editing in this documentary is simply appalling. It is as if the makers had simply taped together a number of reels of footage indiscriminately. For example, the footage taken in Moscow Airport comes to a clunking stop, as the filmmaker obviously slung the camera on the ground, and then switched it off. At least twenty minutes of this film of over eighty could have been cut, without harming its artistic integrity.
It also has the ponderous narration that seems to have afflicted many Soviet documentaries. The narrator delivers his lines in a depressed, sluggish monotone, occasionally stopping, so that we can get a good look at Tarkovsky's old rusty washbasin, in poor quality black and white footage, or so that we can see pictures of Tarkovsky gesticulating in front of a wall, or so that we can stare at Tarkovsky's old mass produced Soviet lampshades for ten minutes. Then there's that excellent clip from an old Soviet film about the relative merits of potatoes and turnips, finished off with an agitprop speech about how the Russians suffered and won against the Germans, which the censors obviously forced in.
There is some footage in here of interest (the making of "Nostalghia" etc), but to be honest, you can see the same elsewhere (see next para). For example, Brezhnev's funeral, and the mood surrounding it, is all very interesting, and is probably to be related to Tarkovsky's own demise, but the fact that there is so much of it means that this particular point is driven home with the metaphorical sledgehammer.
For a much better take on much the same subject matter, take a look at "A Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich", which can be found on Artificial Eye's "Tarkovsky Companion" along with this film. (It can be found on IMDb under - '"Cinéma, de notre temps" (1988) {Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch}' (IMDB no. tt0259701) - as it was originally part of a French TV series.) More importantly, "A Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich" also contains some of the same footage as "Moscow Elegy", but IN COLOUR, and more importantly, with much better sound quality.
The editing in this documentary is simply appalling. It is as if the makers had simply taped together a number of reels of footage indiscriminately. For example, the footage taken in Moscow Airport comes to a clunking stop, as the filmmaker obviously slung the camera on the ground, and then switched it off. At least twenty minutes of this film of over eighty could have been cut, without harming its artistic integrity.
It also has the ponderous narration that seems to have afflicted many Soviet documentaries. The narrator delivers his lines in a depressed, sluggish monotone, occasionally stopping, so that we can get a good look at Tarkovsky's old rusty washbasin, in poor quality black and white footage, or so that we can see pictures of Tarkovsky gesticulating in front of a wall, or so that we can stare at Tarkovsky's old mass produced Soviet lampshades for ten minutes. Then there's that excellent clip from an old Soviet film about the relative merits of potatoes and turnips, finished off with an agitprop speech about how the Russians suffered and won against the Germans, which the censors obviously forced in.
There is some footage in here of interest (the making of "Nostalghia" etc), but to be honest, you can see the same elsewhere (see next para). For example, Brezhnev's funeral, and the mood surrounding it, is all very interesting, and is probably to be related to Tarkovsky's own demise, but the fact that there is so much of it means that this particular point is driven home with the metaphorical sledgehammer.
For a much better take on much the same subject matter, take a look at "A Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich", which can be found on Artificial Eye's "Tarkovsky Companion" along with this film. (It can be found on IMDb under - '"Cinéma, de notre temps" (1988) {Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch}' (IMDB no. tt0259701) - as it was originally part of a French TV series.) More importantly, "A Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich" also contains some of the same footage as "Moscow Elegy", but IN COLOUR, and more importantly, with much better sound quality.
window to a world
Vincentiu7 December 2013
a documentary with Tarkovsky. but not about him. because it has not exactly the role of testimony or homage. in fact, it is a form of synthesis of his movies, a last declaration, frame of an universe in which the hope, the love and search of essence for the profound need of happiness is explored with great delicacy, force and precision. a film who not remember the figure/personality of Tarkovsky but his ideal as the way for his public self definition. a seed of reflection, joy and spiritual light. who can be perfect tool for discover a manner to use the truth and beauty as ladder to escape from a gray circle of each day.
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