A tidal wave of wind across a meadow, a barn going up in a blaze, a shower running dry, a supernatural event on a kitchen table, a man on a chair in the sky — Zerkalo (The Mirror) is a rush of memories and dreams etched like cave paintings in the mind of Andrei Tarkovsky. Is it an expression of the religious mystery that has drawn him through his life, a testimony of love for his troubled mother (and how the Beatrice of his religious and romantic quests has resembled her), or a way of illustrating Russian history through a poetry of personal experience? All of the above, and more: It’s a guiding star by which directors as celebrated and as different as Malick, Von Trier, Zvyagintsev, and Nolan have navigated.
—Jeffrey Overstreet