Andrei Rublev (Andrey Rublyov) (Andrej Rubljow)

With his second feature, a towering epic that took him years tocomplete, Andrei Tarkovsky waded deep into the past and emerged with avisionary masterwork. Threading together several self-containedepisodes, the filmmaker traces the renowned icon painter Andrei Rublevthrough the harsh realities of fifteenth-century Russian life, vividlyconjuring the dark and otherworldly atmosphere of the age: a primitivehot-air balloon takes to the sky, snow falls inside an unfinishedchurch, naked pagans celebrate the midsummer solstice, a young manoversees the casting of a gigantic bell. Appearing here in Tarkovsky'spreferred 183-minute cut, as well as the version that was originallycensored by Soviet authorities, Andrei Rublev is an arrestingmeditation on art, faith, and endurance, and a powerful reflection onexpressive constraints in the director's own time.