Ivan’s Childhood

Ivan’s Childhood
Studio: Criterion Collection
WorkNameSort: Ivan’s Childhood
Ivan’s Childhood may be one of the lesser works in the titanic canon of Andrei Tarkovsky, only because we know the genius he would aspire to later in his short life. For most other directors, this humanist anti-war parable would be the zenith of their careers. Fans of Tarkovsky masterworks like Stalker and Solaris might be surprised by how linear and accessible the story is ‘ not to mention the brevity of the shot length ‘ but Ivan’s Childhood still has an undeniable poeticism that foretells his inscrutable later work. And the shots of impossibly long, snow-covered trees in a dark forest seem to have been referenced in films as diverse as The Conformist and Cannibal! The Musical. Tarkovsky theorist Vida T. Johnson offers a helpful featurette on the movie’s production and subtextual meanings, spending an appropriately long amount of time on the film’s mesmerizing dream sequences. Video interviews with the movie’s leading actor and cinematographer, plus a booklet with a great piece by Tarkovsky himself, finish out the DVD extras.

This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2007.