I didn't have any expectations going into the film and I wasn't even sure of what the plot would be about but despite that I came out of the experience disappointed, which in itself was a bit of a bummer since I was hoping to atleast find it somewhat captivating. I want to say that I found Andrei Rublev to be boring but using that word to explain my experience with the film is cheap and worthless criticism even if it is the emotion that I mainly felt throughout the film. I do however believe that there are explanations for why I found the film to be boring and I also believe that there are many elements in the film that I actually can appreciate, despite not fully enjoying the whole package.
One of the biggest reasons to why I was unable to enjoy Andrei Rublev was the translated subtitles that I viewed the film with, which of course is one of my own faults. There are many times when the subtitles fell flat and disregarded big parts of the dialog in favor of the few important bits that would have hampered the storyline had they been removed. I felt that a lot of the beauty and thought that had went into the dialog and the screen play were lost due to a shoddy amateurish translation and I hope that the next time I watch this film or any other foreign film, I won't have the same problem.
It's a cheap complaint of course but it's one that I felt ruined the experience for me and which made me lose interest in a lot of the conversations that took place throughout the film, such as the scene of the early days of the painting of the church or the scene when Rublev and his followers. The unprofessional subtitles removed any kind of immersion that I was hoping to find and hampered my vieweing much more than I would otherwise have guessed possible.
My other complaint, and this one is actually regarding the movie at its whole, is how the film lacks a cohesive feel. The film follows Andrei Rublev around and is divided into two parts which both are divided into shorter chapters. The short chapters make it hard to give the film a cohesive storyline and mostly works as these little peeks into different times throughout the life that Andrei Rublev lived, be it that they are adaptions of the real history or fictional intepretations doesn't matter, they make it hard to stay focused and keep up with what's going on and makes the movie become even slower than it already is. Tarkovsky might be notorious for his slow films but it is a lot easier to stay with him when there are elements that immerse the viewer.
Overall, I didn't find this movie to be all that impressive. I didn't find the cinematography to be incredibly powerful and I didn't find the acting to be immersive enough. I do see the appeal of the film and I hope that my complaints only are a product of my inexperience with heavier, more artsy films and I believe that in a year I'll be able to appreciate the epic that this film actually is in a broader fashion.
I will not rate my experience with Andrei Rublev since I don't find it fair to place a number on a film that I don't think I fully grasped. I did however place a score on the film on my RateYourMusic account but it's not something I want to tarnish this blog with.
Andrei Rublev is a fine cinematic experience that does little wrong and which impresses when appreciated at a more neutral level but it's a film that I was incapable of enjoying at the time of viewing. My negative experience won't lead me to recommend it anytime soon unless it would be to someone who was curious about foreign art school films that dabble with religion.
Andrei Rublev [1966]
dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Anton Öberg Sysojev
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