Stalker 1979 vs Roadside Picnic

[razielim]

Watched Stalker while swimming in a post-vaccine haze.

I don’t know if this added to or detracted from the experience, but I got very Crime and Punishment vibes from the themes and feel about the same about it. As in, liked it in concept, enjoyed most of the execution, but felt let down by the central message and conclusion.

Perhaps worth a watch, but not in relation to Roadside Picnic. Not because it’s not a direct adaptation, but because the book speaking to you has no correlation with the film speaking to you. They speak of entirely unrelated things, and I think the book is more subtle and profound in the emotions it allows the reader to experience for themselves, it’s a classic and masterful tragedy, while Stalker kind of hammers you with an ideology and is overly sentimental to boot. Stillness and space on their own are insufficient ingredients for nuance and revelation.