But perhaps nothing matches the density of Andrei Tarkovsky’s inimitable Stalker, the Russian legend’s fifth of seven films, and his final feature made within the confines of the Soviet machine. Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (1973) and Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo come to mind as films conjuring something undefinable in their aura and visual textures. Often, these films have their own particular cult followings, legions born out of the urban legends usually surrounding such cinema’s strenuous (perhaps necessary) production process.
And others succeed in reinventing a new, perceptive cinematic language through their own idiosyncratic process. Mystical, existential journeys appear in cinematic form every so often, sometimes challenging our understandings of the world around us as well as the social constructs we use to define ourselves, beliefs, and traditions.
