Tarkovsky, as always, takes his viewers to cinematic chapel and creates a religious experience not easily forgotten. Slow? Yes. Long? Yes. Transcendent? Yes, but don't take my word for it. Andrei Rublev is a meditation on the endurance of personal faith in the face of the evil and random world we all inhabit.
Five stars for the visual composition. Minus one for the over-romanticism of the agony of the artistic process - a trope created and perpetuated by artists and their dreamy acolytes.
If it weren't for its length, this would be my favorite Tarkovsky film; however, it is still easily among the best films ever made. Its messages of spiritual and artistic doubt are as translatable to the theistic as they are to the secular. There are many hypnotic scenes, but I think my favorite might be when Andrei follows the pagans. How this film was made in the soviet era, and with so many extras, is mindblowing.
Saw it on a huge 4KD screen. One of the craziest film ever made. I rarely go to theatre lol.
Glorious. Depicts the harsh era of 15th century Russia, presents the craft of Orthodox icon painting in a deep, intimate manner and manages to stay relevant until the very end. Impressive cinematography and sound design for 1966 and a screenplay written in a way so natural that it transcends the viewer into its setting, causing one to forget it’s a film. Probably the best execution I have seen so far, impeccable.
one of the most haunting depictions of faith ever to be committed to film, and simply one of the most moving films ever to be made.
An experience more than a film. Something to be felt rather than watched. An epic of identity, art, and philosophy. Even distilling it to that does this film a disservice.
My favorite Tarkovsky is still Stalker, but this is probably the one that hits more easily the "masterpiece" note. And it happens to be one of the most well-directed film of all time.
"In much wisdom there is grief. And he who increases knowledge increases much sorrow."
Hagiographical cinema has rarely surpassed this major work of art. The 15th century episodic structure of Rublev's ascent to his Christian mission is told in unprecedented stylistic bravura and pacing that can only honor the ontological backdrop of the story, the character and the filmmaker himself. Perfectly tuned in content to the asceticism of Byzantine art, the film's form touches the divine with its fingertips.
I prefer 'Zerkalo' for its formal and temporal experimentation, but 'Andrei Rublev,' I think, is Tarkovsky’s most essential film—now more than ever, since the artist is quickly being replaced by the committee—because it asks an important question:why bother making art if most people are too barbaric to appreciate it? The answer, of course, comes down to necessity: art is the only thing that lifts us out of the muck.
This is a monumental film. I think it needs to be seen more than once to get a grip on it. It's massive, and as usual, the visuals are beguiling.
There’s some unforgivable animal cruelty in this film (which I can’t condone). Yet there’s an even more overwhelming amount of beautiful scenes imprinted in my brain, most notably a horse rolling around in grass. Story is set in medieval times when atrocities were committed in the name of religion, focusing on the famous religious painter Andrei Rublev. It was to be my first Tarkovsky and i've never looked back.