ReFocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky

Despite an output of only 7 feature films in 20 years, Andrei Tarkovsky has had a profound influence on international cinema. Famous for their spiritual depth and incredible visual beauty, his films have gained cult status among cineastes and are often included in ranking polls and charts dedicated to the best movies ever made. Beginning with the late 1980s, Tarkovsky’s highly complex cinema has continuously attracted scholarly attention by generating countless hermeneutic challenges and possibilities for film critics. This book provides a fresh look at the director’s legacy, with critical essays by both world-famous and early-career film scholars. It consists of four parts covering biographical, aesthetic, and philosophical aspects of Tarkovsky’s work as well as tracing his influence on other filmmakers. Part one, entitled ‘Backgrounds’ (chapters one to three), discusses extra-cinematic factors that influenced Tarkovsky’s cinema, such as his biography and theoretical statements. Part two, entitled ‘Film Method’ (chapters four to eight), examines Tarkovsky’s cinematic techniques, including his treatment of film genre, documentary style, temporality, landscape, and sound. Part three, ‘Theoretical Approaches’ (chapters nine to thirteen), discusses Tarkovsky’s work in the contexts of psychoanalytical, philosophical, and other theoretical perspectives. The fourth and final part of this volume, ‘Legacy’ (chapters fourteen and fifteen), is dedicated to Tarkovsky’s longstanding influence on such prominent auteurs as Andrei Zvyagintsev and Lars von Trier, who are often hailed as the heirs of the Russian master.