For our second episode of the season, your hosts return to the eerie beauty, philosophical pondering, and deliberate pacing of Andrei Tarkovsky with STALKER (1979). Less a science fiction film than Solaris and more of an unconventional road movie, Stalker takes the viewer on a journey through a mysterious Zone where three protagonists seek the fulfillment of their greatest desires at risk of equally great peril. Or... do they? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Meanwhile, Renan and Bill discuss the film's infamously troubled production, the film's influence on Annihilation and Blade Runner 2049, Tarkovsky's faith and defection from the Soviet Union, and what he might make of our relentless social media age.

Episode links:

• Stalker on IMDb
• Stalker on Wikipedia
• Roadside Picnic on Wikipedia
• Geoff Dyer essay on Stalker
• More Geoff Dyer on Stalker
• J. Hoberman review of Dyer's Zona
• Mark Le Fanu essay on Stalker
• The Paris Review essay on Stalker
• Recollection from Stalker's sound designer
• A crew member's memories from the set
• Vox on Stalker and Blade Runner 2049
• TNR on Stalker's relevance today
• Salon on Stalker's slow pacing
• Tarkovsky's message to young people

Show links:

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