So this is the third Tarkovsky on the list, and at this point I am basically an expert on Tarkovsky, so see here his trademarks — languorous pacing, long philosophical conversations between characters, poetry reading, switching between B&W and color — obtruding so definitely that I feel like I’d know this was him even if I hadn’t known it.

But it’s also kinda weirdly like a 1970s SF MST3K-mocked movie, too, because the plot of it in broad outline is: There is this mysterious Zone that was caused by unknown forces (characters postulate UFOs and meteorites), and the main character is a Stalker who guides people into it — in this case the Writer and the Professor — because inside the Zone are not only dangers, but also a place where your wishes can be granted.

It’s a premise that could come off as cheesy, and characters standing around declaiming philosophy about the meaning of art and faith at each other doesn’t exactly remove the potential cheese factor, but this is where Tarkovsky being a brilliant master director comes in handy, because despite the cheese potential, it remains mostly cheese-free.

In fact, what I thought about a lot during the later part of this movie was Mulholland Drive, because this movie has ambiguity in spades — it’s not clear how much the Stalker’s tales of the Zone are to be believed (the Writer and Professor are varying sorts of skeptical at different points, and the movie seems to steer the viewer toward and away from conclusions but never in any definitive way), but whereas Mulholland Drive got me into table-flipping mode, here I didn’t mind it at all.

Partly that’s because of the structure of the movie — there’s never any intimation in this movie that there are puzzles you’re meant to try to solve — but also because for all its ambiguity, the events of the movie did happen; what they mean and how you should think about them is open to interpretation, but there’s no “and then they woke up, it was all just a dream… OR WAS IT” moment.

Anyway, this is a fascinating movie, and even its running time (just shy of three hours) is both a blessing and curse — as frustratingly slow as this can be at times, the pacing really is necessary to evoke the proper tension and quiet atmosphere.