A Commonplace Book

I suspect it is rare for anyone to see what they consider to be the greatest film after the age of thirty. After forty it's extremely unlikely After fifty, impossible. The films you see as a child and in your early teens have such a special place in your affections that is's all but impossible to consider the objectively...

I saw it [Stalker] when it came out within a month of its release, when Tarkovsky was at his artistic peak. I saw it, so to speak, live. And this means that I saw it in a slightly different way from how a twenty-four-year-old might see it for the first time now....

The thing, the product, the work of art stays the same but by staying the same it ages -- and changes. It exists now in the wake of its own reputation...