The Steamroller and the Violin (1962)

Rescued from Russian film archives this was Andrei Tarkovsky's diploma film for the Soviet State Film School. Before this video release it was largely unseen even by some of the director's most fervent admirers. The story is a warm yet ironic one about the unlikely friendship between a young boy who loves to play the violin and a steamroller driver. In this simple yet deeply affecting early film you can already appreciate the emerging talent of an artist who would go on to create some of the most profound works of world cinema. The film was co-written by Tarkovsky's fellow student Andrei Konchalovsky. In Russian with English subtitles.System Requirements:Running Time: 43 mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN UPC: 736899040222 Manufacturer No: DV67514 Product Description

Sasha's childhood

Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky used basic colours to narrate this beautiful fable about the friendship between a loneliness child and a mature steamroller operator, decision that connects with the point of view the story is told, this is, through the eyes of Sasha, a 12 years boy whose musical sensitivity and talent for the violin keeps him away from the rest of the kids . This solution allows Tarkovsky to evokes the particular and elemental world of Sasha where the sublimation of the reality by his innocent eyes and his strangeness about some adult people's attitudes conducts the movie into a sort of magic realism in the way we find in Tarkovsky first feature-lenght film " Ivan's childhood "

Excellent DVD copy with English subtitles option.

September 27, 2006

The Steamroller and the Violin

I realize that some of you refuse to watch a movie with subtitles, and that includes people who read my books without moving thei lips. Never mind. Andrei Tarkovksy made this back when he was 28 years old, long before he became world famous for Andrei Rublev, Solaris, The Mirror, and other films I haven't seen. (I have Solaris and will watch it soon.) His visual sense is positively stunning, to the extent that even I noticed it. It's a deceptively simple tale, about a young violinist befriending a macho (to quote the cover) steamroller driver. Not mushy or anything, though. Just very real. I'm impressed. August 29, 2006

Amazing, considering it's a student film....

Many great filmmakers rarely show their student work (if they have any). Even the great Kubrick, whose first film Fear and Desire is impossible to find, refused to have his first film shown widely (he called it a failed student exercise). But here is Andrei Tarkovsky's "diploma" film (as they called it in the USSR). It is wonderful. It's not Solaris, Rublev, or Stalker, but it's still worth watching over and over again. Tarkovsky was already showing his great individuality with this film. Usually student diploma films were 25 minutes and in black and white. Tarkovsky's film is 50 minutes and is in colour. The relationship between the child and the construction worker is very well done and believable, without any trace of sentimentality that always occurs in films with children (especially in American ones). When watching this, you could tell how talented Tarkovsky was. He's the rare filmmaker that never made a bad film. July 5, 2006

B+ "Good Movie, Recommend"

STANDARDIZED MOVIE EVALUATION

I. CONTENT (out of 3 stars plus bonus, composite of sub-criteria bellow): 2.25

A. PHILOSOPHICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL DEPTH (out of 2 stars, where very shallow = 0; shallow = 0.25 or 0.5; somewhat deep = 0.75 or 1.0; deep = 1.25 or 1.5; very deep = 1.75 or 2.0) 1.25

B. SCREENPLAY ORIGINALITY (out of 1 star, where very banal = 0; banal = 0.25; somewhat original = 0.5; original = 0.75; very original = 1.0): 1.0

+ BONUS FOR CONTAINING CONTROVERSIAL & UNPOPULAR TOPICS (up to 0.5 star, where controversial topics = 0.25; unpopular and taboo topics = 0.5)


II. PRODUCTION (out of 2 stars plus bonus, composite of sub-criteria bellow): 2.0

C. ACTING (out of 1 star, where very ineffective = 0; ineffective = 0.25; somewhat effective = 0.5; effective = 0.75; very effective = 1.0): 1.0

D. PRESENTATION (out of 1 star, where very ineffective = 0; ineffective = 0.25; somewhat effective = 0.5; effective = 0.75; very effective = 1.0): 1.0

+ BONUS FOR PRODUCING ON LOW BUDGET (up to 0.5 stars, where up to one million dollars budget = 0.25; up to half a million dollars budget = 0.5)

TOTAL STAR RATING: 4.25
GRADE & RECOMMENDATION (above 5.0 = A+," Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 5.0 & 4.75 = A," Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 4.5 = A-, " Very Good Movie, Highly Recommend"; 4.25 = B+, "Good Movie, Recommend"; 4.0 & 3.75 = B, "Good Movie, Recommend"; 3.5 = B - "Good Movie, Recommend"; 3.25 = C+, "Fair Movie"; 3.0 & 2.75 = C, "Fair Movie"; 2.5 = C-, "Fair Movie"; 2.25 = D+, "Poor Movie"; 2.0 & 1.75 = D, "Poor Movie"; 1.5 = D-, "Poor Movie"; bellow 1.5 = F, "Very Poor Movie") *** B+ "Good Movie, Recommend" ***


BALANCED MPAA RATING (not biased in favor of violence and against sexuality, where G = no violence, no sexuality; PG = OK slight violence, OK slight sexuality; PG-13 = OK moderate violence, OK moderate sexuality; R = OK explicit violence, OK explicit sexuality; NC-17 = OK extreme violence, OK extreme sexuality) PG for slight violence


March 24, 2006

Overthrowing Op. 1!

This film meant to a very young man named Andrei Tarkovsky his diploma's film from the Soviet State Film School . A steamroller drive and a young boy who plays the violin ; beautiful metaphor among the creator and the consumer ; the mass and the art living together in harmony .
The final scene is devastating .
Simple but legendary as all the masterpeieces .

December 22, 2004

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