Voyage In Time (1983)

Voyage In Time (Tempo di Viaggio if you’re Italian) is an hour-long documentary about Andrei Tarkovsky’s traveling through Italy, in order to prepare for the making of his film, Nostalghia. This movie displays many long shots of Italy’s landscapes and architecture as well as questions, processes, and insights into Tarkovsky’s artistic know-how.

The film at time feels very slow, in fact there is a still scene that focuses on a landscape of soil. There is no score. There is no dialogue. Simply the sound of crickets chirping. This scene goes on for approximately 1:40 seconds and it feels pretty awkward. Yet this style is precisely what Tarkovsky seems to be striving for.
In the film, Tarkovsky and his cohort, Tonino Guerra, discuss different ways in which to film Nostalghia. Guerra wants to focus on the Italian architecture and its beauty, while Tarkovsky seems to struggle with this notion. He would prefer to do a movie with plain, realistic scenes. Often times throughout his tour of Italy, Tarkovsky says, “I feel as if I am a tourist on holiday,” which conflicts with his notion of realism and reflecting his human experience through his films.

One of the film’s most interesting qualities is Tarkovsky’s introspection regarding his opinions on directing films. For example, he dislikes commercial movies and movies based around genres. When he goes into the filmmaking process, he likes to think that the movie “does not have a particular genre” because a movie that portrays life realistically does not follow any set rules, but only reflects the human experience. He also declares that he has a disdain for the fiction genre, and that all movies should be filmed in the documentary style.

While The Mirror was filmed partially in color and partially in black and white, Voyage in Time was filmed entirely in color. This is somewhat interesting considering his preference of black and white films. Maybe since this film is a documentary, it does not have to necessarily follow that rule?

Overall, Voyage in Time gave us an accurate depiction of Andrei Tarkovsky in his original element. He’s a filmmaker, and he has a massive attention span. We were able to see him relaxing and discussing poetry and film ideas with a cohort, which is what he specializes in. We got his inside take on how to make films and how he perceives the art of directing. He has great bell-bottom jeans and facial hair




Work Cited: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3598/year/1995.html