1961 ‘Каток и скрипка’ Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Seven year old Sasha practices violin every day to satisfy the ambition of his parents. Already withdrawn as a result of his routines, Sasha quickly regains confidence when he accidentally meets and befriends worker Sergei, who works on a steamroller in their upscale Moscow neighborhood.
All great artists must start some where, and the final student film from legendary Russian Director Andrei Tarkovsky is a solid early effort.
The roughly 45 minute film follows the story of Sasha who is a young violinist in Moscow. He gets picked on by kids in his neighborhood until one day he meets a steamroller driver named Sergei, who becomes a father figure in his life.
From my brief research on the film Tarkovsky was inspired to create this story based on the father son dynamic in the 1948 film 'Bicycle Thieves'. The Steamroller and the Violin captures the theme of being an artist compared to being apart of the labor force or proletariat. I can see how this…
A poignant short film from Andrei Tarkovsky that displays flashes of brilliance in the early days of his career. It features a cute as a button young lad with a latent gift for striking up a moving tune on his violin. His talent emerges when he befriends an unlikely man who is working with a steamroller just below his apartment, and the friendship blossoms amongst the bullying and torment of neighbourhood children. So many wonderful moments are vividly realised between the characters and some inspired camera technique is displayed in an early scene involving a mirror, where we spend a short moment gazing at small wonders through Sasha's eyes. 45 minutes that are well worth your time.
Everything Tarkovsky touches is gold. He can do no complete wrong. This is a great example of that. Yes, The Steamroller and the Violin is not by any means as complex/artsy as Andrei's feature length films, but it is nonetheless an entertaining and well made film. The first few minutes shocked me at just how different it was from anything Tarkovsky has done, but as it progressed I got used to it and eventually loved it.
One of my biggest fears going into this was that the main character would be super annoying. Thank Tarkovsky I was wrong, because that kid was great. He looked really young too, so is he the best youngest performance? Maybe I am being too…
A precocious music student befriends a worker, and the connection (and disconnection) between artists and workers is neatly depicted in Tarkovsky's student film. It is a film of yearning, of misunderstanding, and of a certain symbiosis that, at the same time, suggests a commonality between artist and worker. It's also a sweet tale of friendship, which I always like.
Short and sweet, The Steamroller and the Violin is a touching little film about friendship by the masterful Andrei Tarkovsky. Despite being a student film, Tarkovsky's vision is clear, even if the film is little like his later works. Within The Steamroller and the Violin, Tarkovsky find beauty in music, in puddles, in conversation. He even manages to find beauty in dilapidated buildings being demolished. During the final act, the two leads cannot meet up and this simple trivial inaction feels like a tragedy. For all its slight nature and simple storytelling, The Steamroller and the Violin is ultimately very moving and hence worth commending. It seems that from the earliest days, Andrei Tarkovsky possessed cinematic skills so few ever…
예술은 부르주아가 아닌 노동자의 자연스러운 일상에서도 얼마든지 발견된다고 믿은 타르코프스키 감독의 신념을 이 영화학교 졸업 작품에서 일찍이 확인할 수 있다. 물체나 자연 현상을 이용하여 언어 없이 정서를 담으려 한 인서트 숏의 활용이나, 감독이 종교적 맥락에서도 즐겨 사용한 하이 앵글 구도 등 타르코프스키 영화의 연출 특징이 수려하게 성장하기 이전의 모습을 나직이 볼 수 있다.
THE STEAMROLLER AND THE VIOLIN may not seem like a Tarkovsky film at first, but then that melancholy musical beauty of his slips into these nostalgic moments of dappled, hazy light glimmering off mirrors and puddles. Even in this charming, rose-and-mint-colored children’s featurette, Tarkovsky introduces his signature touches and the motifs that fascinate him; as in MIRROR, he reflects on literal fragments of childhood; as in STALKER, the gaze directed by his fluid, legato camera will settle and focus on the poignant object of a child’s motion and emotion. Already apparent is Tarkovsky’s concern with the things that move us and touch us through not the physical, but the spiritual, captured in motion not materiality: vibrations and atmosphere, light and…
decent student short film by tarkovsky with a cute main character and relationship as its focus
simple and breezy
What an unbelievable talent that lived in Tarkovsky. This is a beautiful first film.
The world building accomplished in the film’s short 45 minute runtime impressed the hell out of me. Especially it’s depiction of the inner-world of Children. The scene of Sasha staring at the mirrors and reflections of sunlight in a storefront brought me right back to childhood in a way that felt so genuine.
We all know Tarkovsky went on to be one of the greatest of all time (if not THE greatest), and his first step into the ring was a loud one.
表述阶级间或对立或有爱的关系总令人反感，但当阶级的主体换成孩子时，这份伴以理解与关爱的观感产生了自觉的认同。而这样的关系又象征为标题两个主体间的关系，两者对对方都存在期盼，也在交流中产生意识的互换。多次存在物的凝视。在凝视中超越了现实时空，完成阶级对话。
The scene where Sasha finally plays his violin in front of Sergei contains one of my absolutely favorite shots ever. Sergei’s face bathed in the moving shadows of light as he listens to this innocent and pure child channeling humanity’s wonderful capacity for simple, pure beauty.
A perfect introduction to Tarkovsky, I think. It’s short, you can remind people that it’s a student film if they’re the type that would want to nitpick, and it contains so many themes that will be continued in Tarkovsky’s career. It never quite reaches the heights of his later attempts (successful attempts) to mold style and substance into one transcendent creation, but it has all the signs that it would like to.
14 minutes in I paused it, assuming I had passed 30 minutes by this point.
THE POWER OF TARKOVSKY.
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