Abdulla Alsaleh’s review published on Letterboxd:
Andrei Tarkovsky’s movies have always felt like they belonged in a genre of their own. While I might make comparisons between him and other filmmakers, especially Béla Tarr, I don’t think that anybody can fully replicate the spiritual existentialism that fuels Tarkovsky’s movies. Pretty much all of his movies are personal in one way or another, but Mirror is definitely his most personal movie, and it’s what I’d consider to be his masterpiece.
I previously stated that The Sacrifice is Tarkovsky’s most unique and most beautiful looking movie, but Mirror tops The Sacrifice in both of those aspects. The nonlinear structure and the use of both narrated and visual poetry automatically make Mirror more unique than the other movies in Tarkovsky’s filmography, as all of his other movies have linear structures. The symbols and imagery are all up to interpretation, but Mirror can still be appreciated without the need to figure out what each and every symbol means. Despite that, I’m still going to try and say what I think this movie’s about.
To me, Mirror is trying to emulate a stream of consciousness or how someone’s brain recalls the past. Nobody really tries to reminisce over something, especially their own life, from the beginning to the end. The past comes to us in chunks, with each event reflecting something we fear, something we love, and just anything that reflects who we are. Our memories mirror who we are today, for better or for worse. That’s what I think, at least.
