I watched Tarkovski's movie for the first time the other night. It was a lot more "artsy" than I expected (in a good way).

I'm curious what you expected...all Tarkovski is like maximum artsy.

It was my first Tarkovski film and I wasn't aware of the directors style.

Try “Andrei Rublev” it’s (watched all his work) one of his more balanced films, as in its full of symbolism but it’s intertwined with the narration, so one may go through it without noticing then subtext, while it’s probably one of the best (if not the best) films about medieval ages.

If you liked it, watch the Russian Solaris. It's interesting to compare and contrast with 2001.

This is an amazing film. It was a real pleasure comparing it to the Hollywood version and also the book. The Hollywood version is also quite good, but focuses on different things (Kelvins relationship with his ex wife, as I recall) than the Soviet version.

Glad to see this comment. I like them both for different reasons, and feel the Clooney one gets trashed on unfairly for not being as art house smart. I thought the score and how it sets a mood was particularly well done.

Note if anyone is curious and goes looking for the trailer, be warned this is one of those movies where the studio edited the trailer to make it look like something totally different than what it is hoping to boost sales.

From the synopsis, looks like it's based on the Asimov novel.

It’s a Stanisław Lem novel.

helps to be in an 'artistic' state of mind. ;-)

I really liked this movie, had a great build up and cool idea/atmosphere.

I like the movie but it’s also the ultimate nap movie.

Tarkowski with 30 minutes nap still beats most other movies by a large margin. I used to hate myself for the nap, but I wonder if I should stop doing that: the sequences work just so well in the nearly dreaming state.

Thank you for alleviating my guilt about also napping during my recent watch of Stalker. It certainly didn't hurt, and I'd agree it helped in an odd way.

I once ran across an inner city neighborhood with 4 friends to see Solaris, due to being a bit late. We got in just in time - I watched it raptly, and at the end of the movie, looked to my left to see all 4 of my friends angelically asleep in the front row of the theater. So Tarkovsky movies are at least 80% in this fashion.