Jerry McGlothlin’s review published on Letterboxd:
In Stalker, what is realized along the road of life is much more significant than our destinations. A scientific breakthrough? Intellectual/spiritual enlightenment? Philosophical insights? Wealth of material and spirit? These things can only be ascertained through introspection and sincere, meditative soul-searching incorporated into all of your doings. The Zone cannot help you.
I had the intention of writing a long, in-depth analysis for this, but when all was said and done, I was left nearly speechless and totally taken aback by it, despite this being my 7th viewing. Anything I could possibly posit—no matter how profoundly moving or seemingly perspicacious a testimony I could drum up—is already seamlessly woven into the text. To put it into words of my own seems pointless. Though many have done just that quite effectively, and I have the greatest respect for them, because for me, Tarkovsky made something deeply human, touching on so many intangible existential truths, that I have very little to add myself.
Sometimes art reaches out to you, helping you towards the realization of concepts otherwise inaccessible and abstruse. This is the case here and these concepts are intuitively understood. Stalker is absorbed and interpreted empirically by all who witness it based on one’s personal experience and individual perspective.
Enchanting, reflective, life-altering cinema, this.
