Product: My Name Is Ivan [VHS] (1963)
Rating: 5.0
What can I say?
I'd tell you to go out and rent it now, but most of you won't, if you bother to look at my review anyway. :-) And there are some that won't like it much. But I liked it a lot. It's very sad-- in the "there are 8 of us and we're all under 19" scene, where Ivan throws the knife, and imagines/feels traces of what happened in that room, remembers what happened to him, and just acts like a kid freaked out-- I didn't know if I should cry or what, it was very weird and sad. This film is very accessible, ultimately, and though there are confusing parts (hints of Tarkovsky's future path?), I think I "got" what mattered.... I highly recommend this film, and "Andrei Rublev"--- they reminded me of each other, actually, not just Irma Rausch, the actress with roles in both of them, and the kid that played Ivan (strange to think that he was 12 before my mom was born), but also the bell that Ivan lifts and rings, and the famous one in "Andrei Rublev." So, though Tarkovsky afficionados may say "Ivan's Childhood" is not as good as later Tarkovsky films, it's well worth seeing. It's also shorter than "Solaris" and "Andrei Rublev," almost relaxing.