Ineffable.

In my opinion, it's one of those great words that sounds like its own meaning. You call something "ineffable," and I feel like English speakers, even if they don't know the word, have a sense of what you mean. What's even more impressive is that the word means beyond words in a way. It's a word that exists to tell us that some things exist that there are no words for. Not every picture is a thousand words. Some are only a sentence or two. Some are a couple pages. And some...well, they're ineffable.

There's very little that compares (for me) to the endorphins released into my brain, when I figure something out. I loved puzzles as a child,…

A devastating, poetic and stunning depiction of war. There are no battle scenes, all we experience is the consequences of war: one moment Ivan is taking or making commands and works like a soldier, the next he's dreaming of his childhood with his mother. Its a very simple film, but there's such a strength and power underneath because of the direction, cinematography and its atmosphere. The shot of Ivan sleeping with the camera sweeping away and looking up the well, where Ivan and his mother are standing, was one of the most beautiful dream transitions i've seen. But there are endless beautiful and haunting moments in this film, especially the low-angle kiss shot, Ivan becoming the ghost of a Nazi,…

March Across the World Challenge Film #2 - Russia

Ivan's Childhood is a film that portrays the horrifying nature of war better than most, yet very little actual combat is shown. Personally, I don't need a constant stream of bodies collapsing to the ground, missing limbs and barely breathing soldiers desperately trying to cover wounds to remind me of just how destructive mass violence and chaos can be on humanity. Andrei Tarkovsky centered this film around a 12 year old boy named Ivan, a child seemingly adopted by the military after he is orphaned as a result of war. We see these men handle him both as the child he is, with kid gloves so to speak, but also with…

Ivan's Childhood is a lyrical war movie, an emotional, poetic experience. It's about childhood and war, two aspects of life far apart but flung together in this world. It is not the most sophisticated Andrei Tarkovsky movie, nor the most moving or artistic, but it has an elegant simplicity to it. Ivan's Childhood is about nature and innocence, surrounded by the stink of war.

Ivan is a child of war, having had to live a difficult life and grow up quick. As a child though, this world overwhelms him and he doesn't quite understand it. Ivan is convinced he has to fight, he thinks everyone should, and this seems to be his way to cope with trauma. He wants revenge,…

Finally I watched my first Andrei Tarkovsky Film.

Film starts with Ivan chasing a bird and meeting his mother but suddenly he wakes up from his dream. He is in a windmill sleeping. He is now a spy for army. But his superior send him to military school. But he doesn't want to go, instead he wants to go across the river. He runs away. But he is taken by his superior again. He then spends his time at the headquarter and finally goes across the river.

Andrei Tarkovsky he likes to play with his camera. He has done so many different takes and angle with the camera and how he has implemented it is just a dream for me.…

**Part of my "Sight and Sound Greatest Films" Project**
**"My 100 All Time Favorite Films"**

I find it intellectually intimidating in reviewing a Tarkovsky film. Andrei Tarkovsky has always been my favorite director, the more of his films I watch, the more transformative quality I find in the moments, and the less confident I am to articulate my unrestrained appreciation justifiably into words. IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is Tarkovsky’s first full-length feature film and it had already earned him the prestigious best film award, the Golden Lion, at the Venice Film Festival. Ingmar Bergman, upon watching IVAN'S CHILDHOOD, proclaimed his awe by saying, "My discovery of Tarkovsky's first film was like a miracle. Suddenly, I found myself standing at the door of…