Stalker

Stalker is a 1979 Science Fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, of Solyaris fame. The film tells the story of 3 men on an excursion into a mysterious area known as "the zone." The leader of the trip is the Stalker who makes a living by guiding people into the zone, which is rumored to be able to bring a persons innermost desired to reality. The two men whore hire the Stalker to bring them into the zone are known only as the Professor and the Writer, with the Professor seemingly intent on using the zone to win a Nobel prize, and the Writer concerned with his recent loss of inspiration .

Visually the film is nothing less than stunning. The atmosphere it creates of the dingy, almost post apocalyptic Zone is beautiful and highly detailed. The bleak visual is combined with an amazingly well written sound track that fits perfectly into the tensions atmosphere. The seemingly benign nature of the zone, coupled with the fear and danger discussed by the stalker almost makes it more intimidating than if the danger was actually realized. The film may be slow for some, moving at almost real time for much of the duration but overall was highly enjoyable to watch. The films philosophical discussions do a good job of bridging through some of the more slow sections of the film. I would describe the film as arduously slow, but necessarily so.