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Ivan's Childhood

Ivanovo detstvo

Soviet Union

1962

95 Min
Black and White
1.37:1
German, Russian
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Andrei Tarkovsky

SCR Vladimir Bogomolov, Mikhail Papava

DP Vadim Yusov

CAST Nikolai Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, E. Zharikov, S. Krylov, Nikolai Grinko, Valentina Malyavina, Irina Tarkovskaya, Andrei Konchalovsky

ED G. Natanson

PROD DES Yevgeny Chernyaev

MUSIC Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov

Venice (In Competition): Golden Lion, San Francisco: Golden Gate Award - Best Director

Synopsis

The debut feature from the great Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan’s Childhood is an evocative, poetic journey through the shadows and shards of one boy’s war-torn youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of WWII and the serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of violence on children in wartime. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Andrei Tarkovsky

Considered one of Russia’s most distinguished contemporary directors, the late Andrei Tarkovsky is known for highly personalized and poetic films. The son of poet Arseni Tarkovsky, he studied Arabic and first worked as a geologist before attending the State Film School in Moscow under Mikhail Romm. While there he made a pair of short films, “There Will Be No Leave Today” (1959) and the acclaimed Katok i Skripka/The Steamroller and the Violin (his diploma film). Following graduation in 1960, Tarkovsky went to work for Mosfilm and made his feature-film directorial debut in 1962 with Ivanovo Detstvo/Ivan’s Childhood. The film earned him top honors at that year’s Venice Film Festival. His sophomore film, Andrei Rublev, is Tarkovsky’s most renowned work. Ostensibly a portrait of a 15th century Russian painter, the film is actually a metaphorical drama mirroring the plight of Russian artists. Some have expanded the film’s parable to reflect the dramatic effects of war and chaos upon humanity… read more

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Harry Rossi

14May12

Very beautiful. Felt like a haunting meditation. The cinematography is unreal. It being my second Tarkovsky film, its inspired me to try and watch more of his movies.

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DT

12Apr12

Coming after but outdoing Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front in depicting war’s usurping of innocence, and preceding but also beating Klimov’s Come and See for visceral wartime atmospherics. The film achieves a sense of lyricism that some veteran filmmakers never capture, let alone first-timers. And while there are some moments here and there that could’ve perhaps been honed a little further - Tarkovsky himself felt the final product could’ve done with some such tweaking yet - on the whole it’s a fine, often beautiful film, and one for the ages.

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hf005

7Apr12

Soviet films I've never seen, I think, it should be a lot of young people have not had a chance to see. Or we should give it a try.

filipe.oliveira04

29Mar12

Reminds me of a lesson from a teacher, who said that the astonishing images of great films have 'layers of meaning'. This piece is a wonderful demonstration of that poetic storytelling.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: “Ivan’s Childhood” and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky

By Adrian Curry on April 6, 2012

On the occasion of what would have been Andrei Tarkovsky’s 80th birthday, Adrian Curry looks back on the best posters for his films.

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W184

Cinema Scope, Film Comment, Cineaste, Offscreen

By David Hudson on March 13, 2011

Suddenly this weekend, generous samplings from a slew of new issues from some of the best film magazines around have appeared online. In

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Reviews

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Not his best...

By Chase on August 23, 2011

First off let me say I love Tarkovsky. Phew, now that I’ve said that I can say, I was extremely disappointed with this film. As the first feature film from the auteur, you can tell he was still finding…  read review

as relevant es ever

By juan jose namnun on September 1, 2010

Tarkovsky´s first feature film (of a small length, just 93 minutes) feels like a mystical continuation of the first short: The Steamroller and the Violin (in reality it felt more like a prequel, ivan´s…  read review

Childhood experience

By Beneezy on March 20, 2010

(Friday / March 19, 2010 / 3:45pm)

I’m glad that “Ivan’s Childhood” was my first Tarkovsky experience. I was so touched by this film that I compassionately sympathized for the protagonist. The…  read review

Untitled

By futures​tar on September 7, 2009

For singular first films by any director this project sets high standards Tarkovsky would build on in his later works. The continuity is almost unprecedented and inspired Ingmar Bergman to say he was…  read review

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DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.