Episode 308: Stalker (1979)

Special Guest: Geoff Dyer
Guest Co-Hosts: Elric Kane. Joe Yanick

Andrei Tarkovsky 's Stalker / Сталкер (1979) is a deceptively simple film about three men who venture into the verdant and mystical "Zone" in search of a room where their innermost desires will come true. Based loosely on Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkadiy Strugatskiy, the film becomes a meditative experience about art, religion, and logic.

Elric Kane and Joe Yanick join Mike to discuss this unusual "science fiction" film.

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Links:
Buy Stalker on DVD
Buy Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky
Buy Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room by Geoff Dyer
Buy Roadside Picnic, read by Robert Forster
Read a script analysis of Stalker
Read a transcript of Stalker
Read Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris and Stalker: The making of two inner-space odysseys by Stephen Dalton
Read A Unique Perspective On The Making Of 'Stalker': The Testimony Of A Mechanic Toiling Away Under Tarkovsky's Guidance from Cinephilia and Beyond
Andrei Tarkovsky: The Essential Documentaries on Russian Master from Cinephilia and Beyond
Visit the official Geoff Dyer website
Read Danger! High-radiation arthouse! by Geoff Dyer

Music:
Stalker Soundtrack - Eduard Artemyev
"Stalker (For Andrei Tarkovsky)" - Alva Noto

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Episode 268: Hard to Be a God

Special Guest: Daniel Bird
Guest Co-Host: Carol Borden, Travis Crawford

Based on a book by the Strugatsky Brothers, Hard to Be a God is a three hour medieval sci-fi film from Aleksei German wherein the inhumanity of man comes to the fore.

The material was also the source of Peter Fleischmann's 1989 film Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein. Both films inform the discussion this week with Travis Crawford and The Cultural Gutter's Carol Borden.

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Bonus:
Hear more of Travis Crawford on the Supporting Characters podcast.

Links:
Buy Hard to Be a God (2013) on Blu-Ray
Buy the Arrow Films version of Hard to Be a God
Buy Hard to Be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Be sure to visit the Cultural Gutter

Music:
"Rumata & Pampa (The Ride)" - Jurgen Fritz
"Hard to Be a God" - Grant Stevens

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