With luscious film stills and superb essays by the director and his
admirers, this is the essential Tarkovsky compendium
Between 1962 and 1986, Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-86) directed seven
feature-length films, all acclaimed as masterpieces of cinema: Ivan's
Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror, Stalker, Nostalgia
and Sacrifice. Evading censorship and mounting pressure by Soviet
authorities, Tarkovsky decided not to return to the Soviet Union after
completing Nostalgia in Tuscany, three years before his death; his
final film, Sacrifice, was shot in Sweden in 1985.
This new smaller-format edition of a 2012 publication was compiled and
edited by Tarkovsky's son Andrey Jr., along with film historian and
critic Hans-Joachim Schlegel and Lothar Schirmer. Beautifully designed
and printed, Andrey Tarkovsky: Life and Work pays homage to a great
visionary who produced poetic and sometimes disturbing images of near
biblical intensity through his films. Featuring stills from each of his
films, a selection of his influential writings, private photographs from
the family album, as well as Polaroids from Russia and Italy, it is
buttressed with comments from prominent voices who have commented on
Tarkovsky's work and personality, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Ingmar
Bergman and Aleksandr Sokurov.
