One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (1999)

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Through film clips, journal entries, and personal musings, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREI ARSENEVICH is renowned French filmmaker Chris Marker's homage to his friend and colleague, Andrei Tarkovsky, who died in 1986, a unique and intimate portrait of the legendary Russian filmmaker.Widely regarded as… More Through film clips, journal entries, and personal musings, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREI ARSENEVICH is renowned French filmmaker Chris Marker's homage to his friend and colleague, Andrei Tarkovsky, who died in 1986, a unique and intimate portrait of the legendary Russian filmmaker.Widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, and certainly the most important post-War Russian filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky has achieved a mythic status with such visionary masterpieces as Andrei Rublev, Solaris and Stalker. His stylistic idiosyncrasies: minimal plots, fragmented narrative, and long takes have become staples of the modern art film. His confrontations with the Soviet government, the censorship of his films, and his eventual exile only contributed to his mystique.Chris Marker attempts to locate Andrei Tarkovsky in his films. Through close readings of his films -- including rare scenes from Tarkovsky's student film (an adaptation of Hemingway's The Killers), and a practically unknown production of Boris Goudonov -- parallels drawn by Marker between Tarkovksy's life and films offer an original insight into the reclusive director. Excerpts from Tarkovsky's writings, filled with personal anecdotes, from his prophetic meeting with Boris Pasternak (author of Dr. Zhivago), to an encounter with the KGB on the streets of Paris (he thought they were coming to kill him) pepper the film.With behind-the-scenes footage of Tarkovsky obsessively commanding his entire crew (including famed Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist, during the filming of a complicated sequence from The Sacrifice), and candid moments of Tarkovsky with his friends and family, bedridden but still working on the editing of his final film, The Sacrifice, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREI ARESENEVICH is a personal and loving portrait of the monumental filmmaker. -- © 2001 First Run/Icarus Films