A sci-fi tale that unwinds in the environs of the soul takes the form of a nightmarish quest for nothing less than truth itself. A writer and a scientist follow a shaven-headed “stalker” into forbidden territory, a dangerous wilderness known as the Zone. Andrei Tarkovsky forces—or perhaps allows—“reality” to yield abstract images of startling originality, and his vision of landscape is nothing less than truly mystical: these are places to be found only in humankind’s spiritual Baedeker. Tarkovsky was a director who truly grasped the aesthetic power of color, and this unforgettable pilgrimage is bathed in eerie sepia hues.