Andrei Tarkovsky
1961
45 minutes
One of your film buff friends recommended this short Tarkovsky film to you when you balked at their recommendation of watching Ivan's Childhood. You had been discussing your intent not to go see Come and See on the big screen, which was depressing enough to watch on your laptop with the ability to take breaks and be inattentive. You sure the fuck did not need to see something similar with Tarkovsky thrown into the mix as director, since he has a tendency to make three hour films that feel like five hour films and leave you feeling as emptied out and hollow as a Soviet grocery store. As you learned from spending time with your Russian ex, even their comedies can feel like a solid kick in the balls.
This is only mildlly depressing, as Soviet era films go. The kid gets the shit bullied out of him but lives. He makes friends with a steamroller driver, which is not as much of a fun job as it sounds like it would be. The kid plays violin for the steamroller driver. Everything is grey and crumbling or grey and brutalist. It's actually shot beautifully and it's mercifully short and a bit dreamlike. There are some unexpectedly sweet moments. It's a bit like discovering a Dum Dum lollipop that ran through the dryer tucked away in your pants pocket and you give it a few licks and find that there's still a little bit of blueberry flavor left.
Despite the title, at no point does a steamroller run over a violin.
Time to choose something different: