Platoanonymous3, 77

With Tarkovsky at the Pinnacle I like a good movie of any stripe, shape, or persuasion, which means it must exhibit some degree of intelligence & knowledge as well as genuine artistry. But I do prefer those that stretch the aesthetic, moral, & spiritual imagination to its depths & heights, & to me Tarkovsky does this better than any other director I've viewed & does it, though with varying degrees of success, in all his movies. Other directors I've admired include Bergman, Rosselini, Fellini, Rohmer, & Kurosawa. Though very few are thoroughly successful, I generally admire attempts to portray the works of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Henry James, & other great writers on film; some, like Ken Russell's version of Lawrence's Women in Love, come close to capturing the essential vision of the original artist. Movies crammed with action & special effects generally collapse of their own weightlessness. (N.B. Photo was taken in July 1992!)