Saw this for the Director's legacy and like one critic said, nothing much happens here despite the beautiful cinematography. It did show me that old bath and I put it on my places to visit when I go back to Italy. SLC DVD.

Slow down. Breathe deep. And submerge yourself into this cinematic masterpiece.

The movie is dedicated to the director’s mother, who I assume died from boredom watching her son’s film.

While it is probably safe to say that the films of Andrei Tarkovsky are not to the tastes of all audiences, it is also clear that Tarkovsky probably understood the language of cinema more than any other director. In Nostalgia, a Russian researcher (Oleg Yanovsky), accompanied by an Italian interpreter (Domiziana Giordano), travels to Italy to research the life of a composer. When he crosses paths with doomsayer Domenico (Erland Josephson), the course of his life is altered. Deeply philosophical, the story does seem a bit obtuse at times, but the visuals throughout are absolutely stunning as Tarkovsky perfectly frames and executes every shot, many of them lasting several minutes, with razor-sharp clarity and creativity. While Nostalgia may not be his finest work, it remains an impressive visual achievement.

Loose chronology, autobiographical elements, dreamlike sequences, thematically dense, slowly paced ... do you think that this Tarkovsky fella has a type? Though not one of the director's more immediately sweeping films (lacking the scale of films such as Stalker or Solaris) and treading on familiar territory stylistically despite being one of his last feature film projects, Nostalghia is still another great work from the acclaimed Soviet (or by this point, de facto ex-Soviet) director. A highly introspective piece, the plot revolves around internal longing and external disconnection - characters recognizing echoes of themselves in those around them but unable to rectify more superficial distinctions. Yankovsky's Andrei is a stranger in a foreign land (much like Tarkovsky himself), seeing familiarity in the emotions that surround him in the Italian countryside but finding only longing for their more familiar equivalents that he has lost access to. And yet, life goes on in all of its strange and miraculous beauty and tragedy, independent of what we perceive our role to be or what emotions we feel. Even among Tarkovsky films, Nostalghia gives off the sensation that it is one of the more languid despite barely passing the two hour mark, largely thanks to its lack of explicit plot, chronological progression, or real conflict. Regardless, it's worth making the effort to make your way through for one of the director's slightly lesser-known but dense and ponderous masterpieces that gives plenty of room for contemplation. (4/5)

Mistério construído a partir do nada, cheio de reflexões filosóficas e poéticas, beirando o surrealismo.

Incredible, astounding, mind-blowing, poetic, masterful, hypnotic, spellbinding. Words are not enough. This is one of Tarkovsky's masterpieces. Along with "Mirror", it has become my favorite of his movies (and I have now seen them all), followed closely by Ivan's Childhood.

Complex, non-linear and very slow-paced Nostalgia is difficult to swallow even by Tarkovsky standard. The movie deals with the questions of faith, human relationships, the possibility of art language translation and many others. Definitely not the movie to get acquainted with Tarkovsky, but necessary to see if you want to make the full impression of the master's work.

45 minutes is about all I could handle of watching Tarkovsky's remains aimlessly reveling in their own gasses.

As always an amazing movie by Tarkovsky! The cinematography of the movie is brutal. It's a pleasure for the eye to watch. The woman is very beautiful and reminds of Venera. The plot is very well put and the narratives deeply philosophical. What I liked most about the movie was the poetics, which the director uses -some might even call it mysticism. Recommended for everyone! Tarkovsky is Tarkovsky!

One of the best movies I've ever seen.

How to make a pretentious and pompous movie: Make everything happen in slow motion. Show people doing weird things (yes sir, water that floor real good, sir). Have the characters name-drop composers, poets, writers, painters, etc. Have the characters lecture the audience. That scene with the man ranting on the horse felt like he picked up a demented homeless dude ranting on a subway train and gave him some screen time to "illuminate us". We should strive to be more together, not further apart. Wow, such wisdom. Fascinating. By the time the candle scene at the end started I was already bored. After enduring that scene, I was pissed off. This was literally the most miserable, enraging, and excruciating experience I have had in a movie theater. Fuck this movie and that weirdo eating bread and looking at himself in the mirror like a maniac.

Tarkovsky's photography is always incredible. The film follows his trademark hypnotic style but the fact that it's a bit autobiographical makes it a bit less captivating than most of his other works.

More interesting than I was expecting.

Nostalghia is my favourite Tarkovsky film. There is something magical about its slowed-down memory and dream sequences, its moments of epiphany, reflection and beauty and its overriding sense of loss and detachment. Andrei Gorchakov travels to Italy to research the life of Pavel Sosnovsky, an exiled composer who studied in Bologna before returning to Russia and hanging himself. Gorbachev, himself an exile, meets Domenico, a former inmate of a lunatic asylum who locked up his family for 7 years in order to avoid the apocalypse. Domenico believes that if he is able to cross the St Catharine Pool with a lighted candle, he will save the world. He gives the candle to Andrey who agrees to carry out the task on his behalf. Domenico later sets fire to himself in Rome to the 4th movement of Beethoven's ninth symphony. Andrey returns to the pool which has now been drained of water. There follows one of the greatest moments in cinema. In a single unbroken take lasting over ten minutes, Andrey climbs into the now dry pool, lights the candle and starts to cross from one side to the other, shielding the candle from the wind. Twice the candle blows out and Andrey is forced to return to the beginning. At the third attempt he reaches the other side with the candle still alight and promptly collapses. It is impossible to do justice to this scene simply by recounting what happens. It is unbelievably beautiful. Just thinking about it makes me shudder with awe.

Nostalghia is quite simply among the most beautiful films ever made. It's Tarkovsky's most emotionally engaging film since his masterpiece Solaris, certain to reward patient viewers with one of the most singularly amazing filmgoeing experiences.

If a work of art is the pleasure of a journey to be made then this film by Tarkovsky is one of the most beautiful spiritual journeys. Art is not about the answers that it offers about life but furthermore about the most interesting questions that it poses.

Recuerdos, antiguas vivencias, momentos que han quedado en el pasado, pero no en el olvido. Nostalgia. A veces lo más cercano a revivir, es recordar. Para ver una película de Tarkovski y debido a la naturaleza de las mismas, es necesario hacerlo en el estado y momento adecuados. Es como intentar leer un libro en la noche; lo más probable es que cuando menos lo esperemos, ya estemos cerrando los ojos y no precisamente porque el libro sea malo. Lo mismo ocurre con las películas de Andréi. Uno de sus filmes es un espléndido libro, que se aprecia de la mejor manera en el momento adecuado. Una vez más, Tarkovski juega con el espacio y la naturaleza, cuidando cada encuadre como si de una pintura se tratara. Ninguna escena es presentada al azar. La misma lentitud con la que fluye el filme es probablemente lo que facilita esta situación. Podemos pausar la película en cualquier instante y lo que vamos a tener en pantalla es siempre una bellísima estampa. Y no sólo en la naturaleza; Andréi es capaz de encontrar la belleza hasta en un simple y viejo cuarto. Cada elemento encuentra su espacio ideal frente a la cámara, incluso las personas, aunque su distribución pueda notarse antinatural. En este filme, a diferencia de sus anteriores, podemos ver a Tarkovski utilizando trucos de cámara más de lo normal. Este detalle no ofrece más que ventajas, aportando una mayor estructura y significado a la narrativa. Es sorprendente como un director puede decir tanto con tan poco. Los diálogos son generalmente escasos, pero aún así trascendentes y reflexivos. Dichos diálogos siempre se encuentran convenientemente acompañados de extensos silencios, que parecieran presentarse para darnos tiempo a analizar cada palabra dicha. A pesar de lo lenta y contemplativa que pudiera resultar la película, la mayoría de los momentos son relevantes. Desviar la atención durante uno de éstos, podría significar perder el hilo y dejar de comprender lo que está ocurriendo. La lista de ideas y conceptos que trata el director a lo largo del filme es extensa. Arte, estética, religión, política, filosofía; Tarkovski encuentra en sus películas el pretexto perfecto para desarrollar estos y más temas. Se trata de una cinta sumamente balanceda en todos los aspectos de una manera en la que sólo Andréi puede hacerlo. Un maestro de la reflexión, la contemplación y la belleza.

Nope. First viewing, nope. Beautiful but incomprehensible. Easily my least favourite Tarkovsky.

Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalghia" is about as perfect as a film can get. Giuseppe Lanci's cinematography is stunning. Not to be missed.