Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Picnic

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Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Picnic

Postby NotCIAAgent » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:41 am

One day, I was remembering how I had a good time watching Valhalla Rising, an "artsy" movie, though hated by critics and not popular among the average Joes. It was very interesting, though the plot was a little dense, but for good reason - it had a mute protagonist, no narration, and little to no expository dialogue. Hell, if all artsy movies are that great, why shouldn't I look for the best of them all?

A relatively common, but intriguing, result was a 1979 Russian movie called Stalker.

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The movie was vaguely based on a Russian short sci-fi story named Roadside Picnic, written in 1971, which I plan to get more into later when I will make some comparisons between it and the movie. Still, the plot objects are the same between both versions: a small Russian town, a visit by otherworldly entities, the Zone, and an artifact capable of granting anyone's wishes.

In the movie, sometime in the past, aliens visited Earth, staying no more than a few moments before leaving. The area in which they stood has become an extremely hazardous place called the Zone. Possibly radioactive and allegedly having an will of its own, controlling everything in the area, alive or not, this dangerous place harbors a great treasure: the Room, a place capable of making one's deepest, most secret wish come true.

Our protagonist Stalker (probably his surname, very Russian), a man who knows the Zone entirely and all its secrets, makes a job out of his knowledge, cashing in from rich costumers by guiding them into the Zone (due to its nature, the government made a heavily patrolled cordon around while they, supposedly, study it) and to the Room. Facing financial difficulties due to failing to have a normal job for too long, our protagonist takes to the Zone a science professor and a decadent artist, who are the most prevalent secondary characters.

The movie itself is indeed very well made on the technical aspect. The shots are just amazing, the photography and sudden changes (from sepia to fully colored) when moving between the city and the Zone really adds a mystique to it, and the acting of all present characters is really good. I would even say the extremely philosophical (and dense) dialogues (between characters or character to audience, as it happens sometimes during the movie) can be somewhat intriguing. But in my humble opinion, it failed to have substance, and it might have been intentionally so.

Spoiler: show
The Stalker is very methodical in the way he travels the Zone, constantly throwing bolts as he is traveling trough a mine field, and insists to have the professor and the artist always following him closely, but even when they end up proceeding recklessly or get separated, nothing visibly dangerous happens. At most, the artist has a hallucination and passes out at some point. What mostly happens is objects that shouldn't be there appear, sometimes to a character's convenience, like a working phone inside the abandoned building right before the Room for the scientist to call his project chief and rub it in his face that he actually managed to get in there. But never does it transmit a real sense of danger, unlike in the book, in which the Zone anomalies are very visible, and sometimes even palpable, as we see the effects they can have on someone.

The Stalker, at the doors of the Room, vehemently assures his clients it was indeed a miracle they managed to have such an uneventful journey with no casualties, facing (literally) violent skepticism. We, the audience, must take his word for it, which is part of the movie metaplot.

Apparently, the director made many movies whose theme was faith, believing in someone or something, and the critics say Stalker was the conclusion of his artistic circle. So when Stalker, at the end, laments to his wife on how they don't believe in him, he might be talking not just about his clients, but also about the audience. The lack of unusual, supernatural elements on a sci-fi movie based on a sci-fi work that's full of them might have been intentional. It wasn't a movie about a book, but a movie about disbelief, incredulity, and faith.


It is a impressive movie, that is undeniable, but it is very dense. Given the metaplot, maybe if you watched the director's previous movies (something I didn't do when I watched Stalker, and don't plan to do in the near future), you might have an easier time watching it. I, however, had to force myself through it. But it is adored by many critics, with some considering it to be the best movie ever, because unlike the average movie you go to see in theaters, it is art. But should artistic movies be judged differently from "normal" movies? Aren't all movies art? Art is not always entertainment, but entertainment is art as well.

I came to this movie looking for entertainment, and failed to find it. Maybe you will have a different experience. I am no critic, no intellectual, no artist; it is entirely possible I merely didn't get it. But one thing is for sure: I would pick and recommend Roadside Picnic over Stalker any day.

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Re: Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Pic

Postby LiteralHipster » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:55 pm

I'm not reading this until I have watched the movie because "Solaris" was amazing and I plan to watch everything I can by Tarkovsky. I know this is about the book but I won't risk reading spoilers about the film. ;) If you haven't seen "Solaris"... well, you should. And stay away from Soderbergh's version if you can. 
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Re: Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Pic

Postby NotCIAAgent » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:00 pm

LiteralHipster wrote:I'm not reading this until I have watched the movie because "Solaris" was amazing and I plan to watch everything I can by Tarkovsky. I know this is about the book but I won't risk reading spoilers about the film. ;) If you haven't seen "Solaris"... well, you should. And stay away from Soderbergh's version if you can. 


All the relevant (as in, descriptive) informations about the plot are in the spoiler tag, so don't be afraid. And if my research was correct, what I am writing, you already know.
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Re: Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Pic

Postby LiteralHipster » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:46 pm

OK, I read it. I avoided the spoiled bit until I have watched the movie.

You make a good point that comes up all the time among film buffs:

NotCIAAgent wrote:I, however, had to force myself through it. But it is adored by many critics, with some considering it to be the best movie ever, because unlike the average movie you go to see in theaters, it is art. But should artistic movies be judged differently from "normal" movies? Aren't all movies art? Art is not always entertainment, but entertainment is art as well.


I'd argue that art is not always entertainment and, in the same way, entertainment is not always art. In the case of movies, though, we're certainly looking at an artistic product, and there is always the possibility to watch them from an artistic perspective. You need to account for the intentions of the artist, though. Did they want to just make an entertainment film, a "popcorn movie"? Did they introduce some social commentary in what is otherwise just a light summer flick? Is the main intention of the film to make you think as opposed to be entertained? It would be unfair to judge Terminator: Genisys using the same parameters as one would judge Solaris, even though both of them are sci-fi movies.

As I said, the point often comes up in discussions among film buffs. Here is one such discussion. Notice how nuanced the issue is all along the way: there are few "pure" entertainment movies, if any; it would be undesirable both to over-analyze and under-analyze a movie; the quality of a film is often independent of its intended depth; both the entertainment factor and the depth factor are valued differently by different viewers; both are often used to justify flaws in movies; and so on.
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Re: Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Pic

Postby Revolving Royal » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:42 am

In my opinion the mark of a good adaptation is getting the overall feeling and atmosphere of the work onscreen. I don't object to directors emphasizing certain parts or adding some of their personal themes into the work, but it sounds like the filmmaker could have done an original story.

It sounds like a good movie, but not a good Roadside Picnic movie.
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Re: Who Cares About What I Think? - Stalker and Roadside Pic

Postby Ceiling_Squid » Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:02 am

Hm, I will have to give this a look. As I understand it, the cult-hit S.T.A.L.K.E.R series of survival-shooter games are very loosely inspired by both the film and the novel. Different enough to be a unique story rather than a true adaptation, but the basic premises of The Zone and the anomalies within are there, even going so specific as to allow your character to throw bolts in order to identify spatial distortions. I believe they also have a Room equivalent. On my (lengthy) Steam backlog. Maybe I'll pair them with the story and the film when I finally get around to playing them!
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