When I was watching Tarkovsky’s Stalker I fell into a mysterious loop for almost three hours. It was totally intangible to me. I failed in capturing and untangling my true emotions. The only traditional scene I could fetch was the first. A shivering and moving glass on a small round table, a rusty room, three sleeping people. An original track of train passing very near. An intense conversation between the husband and wife, from which one piece is very figurative – Jail or here I am imprisoned everywhere. The guy walks away and meets the other two in a café wait to break themselves from the mediocre and relish true freedom.

Journey to the ‘Zone’ an alien world in post-nuclear Russia hypnotize you. A mind trip to the unknown you physically connect on screen. The zone houses a room where your innermost desire is going to be fulfilled. Sounds a bit utopian? Feel real? Would there be such a room? A stalker should interpret everything you believe and experience about this haunting, forbidden area. Surely, this person can’t be easily decoded. Much of the mystical things he shares with his fellow travelers are from the former one in the same job.

You can only experience the enigmatic world of Stalker. It’s a riddle that holds its set of rules. Who walks first in which direction illustrates fear. While following, the other two can be stuck anywhere if the first one is disobedient. The place demands respect. You can’t walk back in the same direction. You cannot carry a gun for self-protection.

The talking writer, the silent scientist, and the guide stalker –three curious men take us to a surreal world. You need many rounds of watches to crack them and their philosophies. The distortion of time in the Zone traps them and us. A patient indulging in the movie through long, sustainable, poignant, Tarkovsky shots is going to redefine your movie experiences, ever.

Intensely Transcendental is what Stalker to me. Wish you could throw more light as I can only end this review abruptly as they paused before the aspirational ‘Room’.