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. In a plot employing the roughest outlines of a novel by Soviet sci-fi writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, a writer and a scientist follow a shaven-headed “stalker” into forbidden territory, a dangerous wilderness known as the Zone. Tarkovsky forces-or perhaps allows-“reality” to yield up 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. On top of everything else, Tarkovsky was a director who truly grasped the aesthetic power of color, and this unforgettable pilgrimage is bathed in eerie sepia hues.