To combat some of the pushback my comparisons get from time to time (again - I do admit that
some of these are reaches and just look cool next to each other), I've decided to move in to the realm of
moving frames to emphasize the similarities between certain films (it's easy to capture a still frame and pause it at the right moment to make it look how you want).
For example...
Andrei Tarkovsky & Alexander Sokurov had a friendship/relationship. Sokurov has spoken about Tarkovsky on numerous occasions and, in so many words, has acknowledged the subconscious influence Andrei Tarkovsky has had on his films.
Now...it's one thing to write that, and another thing to show these two pivotal scenes (below) side by side. There's lots of movies of men standing in fields of grass but things get a little less vague when you get more detailed.
Both films are slow, semi-personal (RUSSIAN) films about loss & grief with contemplative moments where we find our protagonists not only standing in a field pondering life, but their movements are damn-near identical (notice how they both look over their shoulders in a similar fashion).
 |
| Solaris (top) / Mother & Son (bottom) |
This admitted subconscious influence continues with Tarkovsky's
Sacrifice where certain scenes/shots are, in my opinion, undeniably similar...
 |
| The Sacrifice / Mother & Son |
Like most people, I've always associated Hal Hartley with the work of Godard, Bresson & even Jarmusch, but the grenade throwing scene in
Trust is strangely identical to the grenade throwing scene in Tarkovsky's
The Mirror...
 |
| The Mirror / Trust |
There have already been enough open & shut cases made for Tarkovsky's influence on the usual suspects like Reyegadas, Von Trier & Malick. But perhaps some moving imagery will hammer home what I've been exploring on this site for the last 6 or 7 years...
 |
| Andrei Rublev / This Is My Kingdom |
 |
| Solaris / Antichrist |
 |
| The Mirror / Silent Light |
 |
| The Mirror / Tree Of Life |
Let's also not forget that Claire Denis worked with/alongside Tarkovsky at one point in her career...
 |
| Stalker / The Intruder |
Beyond those - who knows what (or if any) kind of influence Tarkovsky may have had on modern cinema. If you look below, you'll see some new comparisons that could be total reaches. But when I see dynamic shots of tattered ceilings & lens flares in David Gordon Green's
George Washington, it's hard to not associate that imagery with
Ivan's Childhood...
 |
| Ivan's Childhood / George Washington |
From The Exorcist to The Revenant and so many films in between, the shot of a floating figure is common in modern film. But I find this specific moment of Trent Reznor laying flat on his back in the Closer video (below) to be very similar to The Sacrifice (above)
 |
| The Sacrifice/Closer |
And here are a few more new comparisons that may have some validity...
 |
| The Mirror / The White Ribbon |
 |
| Solaris / The Lobster |
