Stalker (Сталкер) (1979): Tarkovsky's classic will air on TCM Sunday Oct 29

Andrei Tarkovsky’s haunting classic Stalker (Сталкер) (1979) is a must-see for cinephiles.

If you’ve played the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you already have a sense of the ‘feel’ of this film as both are based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s 1972 novel Roadside Picnic. Those two also wrote the screen play, which diverges from the book.

Infused with visual callbacks to Soviet gulags and the Chernobyl disaster, the film is about a stalker. For a price, the he will guide interested pilgrims from the crumbling and polluted normal world, past guards and hazards, and into the “Zone” where a wellspring of small life is overtaking the decaying creations of man. A dystopian normality is replaced with aberrant physics, harrowing obstacles both mental and physical, and most importantly with a chance to reach “The Room” where one’s desire might be granted…for a sacrifice. That is the trek, but the story is about the men, specifically, as titled, the Stalker.

The stalker has a family, he’s fresh from jail and is about to risk a return if he isn’t killed, first. His inner journey is more important than the physical one and is described as much with ambient sound and water as with action and dialog. With a writer and professor in tow, the stalker again undertakes the pilgrimage despite concerns from his wife. His desire for the Zone itself and the money he’ll make outweigh his wife’s concerns, but not his love for her and their child. Will it be worth it? Is he doing more harm than good? Does anyone know and can anyone choose a better path? Filled with loaded imagery and motiff from faith and love to war and cynicism, this film slowly reflects on a variety of conflicting ideas without forcing any single principle to be the sole answer (though one could argue that there’s a theme).

The movie is available through various library subscriptions, youtube, HBO, and will air on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on Sunday Night/Monday Morning October 29 2025 at 2:00am EDT. Find a long block of empty time to give it a try.

https://piefed.social/c/movies/p/1397021/stalker-stalker-1979-tarkovsky-s-classic-will-air-on-tcm-sunday-oct-29

Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (1970)

Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (1970)/ 智取威虎山 / Zhi qu wei hu shan

This film is complete propaganda, but that’s okay. It’s not like the U.S. and other countries didn’t have propaganda movies (I’m looking at you, Private Buckaroo). The possible difference here is that rather than studios ‘choosing’ to support our troops and getting free help from the military, here the government – specifically Mao’s wife, Jiang Qin, who was highly influential in the Cultural Revolution – was explicitly looking to create “eight model operas”. This was the first of the set. Several were shown each year – even in small villages – and attendance may not have been exactly compulsory, but it was easier to go than explain why you did not. Because of the close-to-national attendance, this may be the most watched film of all time with a supposed view count of over seven billion views before the internet expanded its reach.

Based on a novel from the 50s, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and directed Xie Tieli, the film is basically a filming of the opera with close-ups and a variety of shots and camera work to keep it from becoming overly static. Set during the civil war in 1946, the opera follows a detachment of the People’s Liberation Army in Manchuria searching to eliminate a group of bandits which are hiding in well fortified camps in the mountains. Along the way, we meet bandits, soldiers, and common people who may be suspicious at first, but soon see the correctness of Mao’s plan, and are eager to help the army get rid of the bandits.

The music and action is traditional and as it would be seen on a stage with evocative set design. When the story calls for riding a horse, the dancing denotes riding and horse whinnies are heard in the distance of the orchestra, but no horse is onstage. When there is fighting, the dance become acrobatic with leaps and lifts to connote feints and conflicts. Throughout, the message is how the People’s Army is making things better, and how ready the public is to work hard to make a better tomorrow.

While the spectacle is initially thrilling, viewers are unlikely to stay transfixed as they see the same sort of thing over and over. The beginning is heavy with dialog that may require a quick rewind to read the subtitles, but there are points that the film drags. The resolution is satisfying, but a forgone conclusion. This might not be the greatest film ever made, but since it is probably the most viewed, it is worth seeing if only for historical reference.

https://piefed.social/post/1361487

World on a Wire (1973) An early 'VR' flick by Fassbinder airs on Turner Classics this Sunday

https://piefed.social/post/1300991

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935): only got 1 minor Oscar, but kicked off a cycle of Imperial adventure tales

https://piefed.social/post/1287064

Thank God It's Friday (1978) won Academy Award for Best Song, "Last Dance" by Donna Summer

https://piefed.social/post/1279950

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) -- won Best Film at Venice Film fest that year

https://piefed.social/post/1271465