The amount of thought-provoking layers Tarkovsky put into something as simple as the color in the film is simply astounding. But art is in color, so therefore it must be presented in color. This is a much better case for not including color in your work than whatever the reason is for lack of color in the MCU. And that comes through in the aspect of use of color. Tarkovsky’s cinematic philosophy was to present life as it is, but not through cinéma vérité, but through metaphors and a poetic stylisation, to more accurately depict the way each of us experience life. Tarkovsky argued that this is because in life one doesn’t consciously think about the colors that surrounds oneself, hence the decision shooting in black-and-white. The film was shot in black-and-white while the epilogue, depicting Rublev’s icon paintings, is shot in color. This goes into Tarkovsky’s overall cinematic philosophy. These two films are the only ones I can think of that present the Middle Ages as they truly were rugged, disgusting and overall depressing, but occasionally pretty. The only other movie I can think of that presents this time period accurately in this aspect, and I’m not joking when I say this, is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In Andrei Rublev we see the mud, the rugged landscape, the clothes look worn out, and all the sets (houses and churches) look like they probably did in that period. The houses, the castles, the churches, everything tends to look too clean, but not so in Andrei Rublev. So many films that take place in this period have actors who look relatively clean, with clothes that either look way too modern or like they just came out of the clothing factory. Right from the bat it must be said that Andrei Rublev is one of the most historically accurate depictions of the Middle Ages caught on film. The Andrei Rublev in this film isn’t meant to be the historical Andrei Rublev, through Tarkovsky’s lense he becomes a metaphor for all artists in all time. Rublev is most certainly the protagonist of the film, but Tarkovsky doesn’t set out to deconstruct or paint an accurate portrait of Rublev’s life like most biopics do, Tarkovsky and his co-writer Andrei Konchalovsky use Rublev as a form of anchoring vessel to explore questions about art, spirituality and Russia’s history during the Middle Ages. Andrei Rublev is normally a biopic about the titular Russian icon painter, however, to call it a biopic would be a big mistake. I could honestly stop the review right here since he basically sums up what I want to talk about, but then I wouldn’t be doing my job, so the show must indeed go on. So reads the quote from Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, director and co-writer of the epic historical drama Andrei Rublev from 1966. Art is born out of an ill-designed world. Art would be useless if the world were perfect, as man wouldn’t look for harmony but would simply live in it. The artist exists because the world is not perfect. If they existed, his work wouldn’t exist, for the artist doesn’t live in a vacuum. “An artist never works under ideal conditions.
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