Nostalghia

Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) is a Russian poet, visiting Italy to research the life of 18th Century Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky, who had lived in Italy for a time, before committing suicide upon his return to Russia. Andrei is himself on the verge of a breakdown, unable to commit to his research, and longing for his homeland, his wife and children. At the same time he is unsettled by possible feelings for his beautiful interpreter and guide, Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano). While visiting an ancient Roman bath, he is intrigued by Domenico (Bergman regular Erland Josephson), a local madman or holy fool, who had once kept his entire family indoors for seven years to protect them from an imagined apocalypse (or are we already living out the end he envisioned?). Now, it seems, he is convinced that only Andrei can save the world, by having the faith to perform the apparently absurd ritual of bearing a lighted candle across the heated waters. It is a gorgeous film, perhaps the finest in an extraordinary body of work by one of the greatest of filmmakers. I was quite impressed to find that the Korean copy (with the grey borders, that I bought here on Amazon from one of the listed sellers) was not at all a cheap bootleg version, but looks quite good. Watching it on my large HD television, with an upconverting dvd player, I found the picture to be quite nuanced and lovely. There was a lot of detail in the low key scenes, and it didn't all turn into shadow; and there was an enormous amount of contrast and range in the high key outdoor scenes, with no washing out of the bright details. I have nothing to compare it to, so I can't say whether they've preserved the precise look of the original - it's been several years since I've seen this projected from an original 35mm print - but it looks quite impressive, and much better than the VHS copy owned by my local library. This film contains some of the richest imagery I've ever seen in a film, the dream sequences are stunningly visceral, and the use of light extraordinary throughout, but especially astonishing is the closing shot which I won't describe or give away since in many ways it encapsulates a great deal of the significance of the film as a whole. Tarkovsky makes full use of the widescreen here, and shoots primarily in color but dreams, recollections and imaginations are often rendered in a richly toned black and white. One other Tarkovskian element that strikes me as perhaps most powerfully developed here is the technique of "folding" space and time -- within a single pan of the camera, in a single shot, the same character will appear in repose in differing locations. I guess it's possible that the characters get up and run around the camera to take their secondary and tertiary positions, but they never seem to be out of breath or out of repose. It's an impressive and powerful effect, that gives the sense of an untold passage of time within the shot, that exceeds the duration of the shot itself. If you've ever seen a Tarkovsky film before, many of the stylistic elements and the general approach will be familiar, but each of his works stands alone and says things that he doesn't in his others. This is the film that Tarkovsky himself thought his greatest, and it is not hard to detect the autobiographical and perhaps even prophetic elements of this film. Nostalghia was his first film made outside of Russia, and meant he was away from home for a long time. He completed one film after this one, but was never able to return to his homeland. For insights into Tarkovsky's life and thoughts, read his provocative and challenging treatise Sculpting in Time . For insights into the development of this film, see his Voyage in Time , a documentary that Tarkovsky made with Tonino Guerra while scouting locations in Italy and developing the story.

Haunting and profoundly beautiful, Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostaghia (1983) is a stunning work of intellectual cinema focusing on the feelings of longing for home, existential sense of place and purpose, and search for and recognition of spiritual faith. A memorable daydream filled work of poetry as a frustrated Russian writer researches a composer's life and his interactions with his translator and a mysterious homeless outcast while staying in a exotic and surreal hotel in Italy. Being that this a Tarkovsky film, it is slowly paced and the symbolic motifs of rain and dripping water, candles and ruined cathedrals, doorways, fog, birds, and reflections are all present in striking imagery and vast scenes of alternating B&W and Color composition. The collaboration of director Andrei Takovsky with writer Tonino Guerra adds a deeply artistic cinematic language that is a perfect marriage of Russian and Italian style, an acquired taste, but I would say this is a bit more accessible than one would expect from the director of the free-form The Mirror (1975) and Andrei Rublev (1966) working with the screenwriter of L'Avventura (1960), Red Desert (1964), Blow Up (1966), Zabriskie Point(1970), or Fellini's Amarcord (1970), and find this being one of my top favourites of his few films, as compelling and fascinating as Solaris (1972) or Stalker (1979). I found the climactic candle carrying scene certainly one of the most exciting sequences and much more captivating than it could have been if not directed by this master of long takes, and I must say Zoe, the German Shepard was also great- the performance and its symbolic device. Like Tarkovsky's six other films, this is a masterpiece and highly recommended. This will be most appreciated by those familiar with the arthouse cinema of Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, and is even reminiscent of the surrealism of Fellini's 8 &1/2 (1963) and La Dolce Vita (1960). Kino Lorber's newly restored 2024 Blu-Ray is truly excellent and looks amazing, a definite upgrade worthy of replacing the 2014 edition (which I also have), and contains an good audio commentary, hour long documentary, and interview with the cinematographer.

Tarkovsky on blu-ray is becoming quite comprehensive with only Stalker (as far as I can discover) yet to début. Trouble is, with the exception of The Sacrifice (region-free) and Solaris, the rest are either only obtainable from overseas sources or are not Region B friendly. Nostalghia is no exception: this Kino release is region A only. But if you do have a multi-region blu-ray player, I think this disc is well worth buying. It is superior in quality to Kino's other recent release, The Sacrifice, which suffers from too much DNR and "sharpness" tweaking, giving it a very unnatural sheen, whereas, Nostalghia suffers no such digital "enhancement" defects. However, there would also appear to be no restoration work (perhaps in response to criticisms of The Sacrifice). Negative speckles are present (showing as white dots), and the soundtrack hasn't been cleaned up much - I could detect at least one reel change on the soundtrack alone. But to be positive, I think these slight imperfections contribute to the very filmic feel and quality that this blu-ray has. And the transfer is otherwise excellent. If, as I am, you are used to seeing Nostalghia via Artificial Eye's DVD, you will immediately notice that colour saturation has a much more natural look: trees, smoke, flesh tones, blood, all appear as they should. The dream/memory sequences are now in black-and-white, not in sepia. The correct aspect ratio, 1.66, is now used, giving a little more picture area. But the greatest gain is in overall clarity and detail. Nostalghia abounds in natural textures: ancient stone, flowing and falling water, decaying buildings, and when human beings are set against such backgrounds the effect is almost 3D in quality. Overall, a very satisfying disc which truly reflects its origins.

If you received 2 Blurays in the packet test them out first, the 4k disc seems to have been mislabeled as a normal Bluray. Have tested it and the left side is the 4k disc (mislabeled) the right is the normal region A Bluray.

Uno dei più grandi registi della storia del cinema ci lascia in eredità questa perla preziosa, da osservare con amore e attenzione

Muy buena transferencia, a mi manera de ver respeta mucho el material original, estoy contento con la compra!

If you want to know more about the actual film read the other reviews. This 4k version is almost excellent. My only complaint is that the audio is a bit off at times.