Very Bad Wizards

Episode 253: Tarkovsky's Starchild

January 31st, 2023  |  2 hrs 8 mins

movie, penis, social psychology, sports car, stalker, tarkovsky

It’s the episode that Tamler has been waiting for – a long deep dive into Andrei Tarkovsky’s mysterious masterpiece "Stalker." A writer and professor are led by their guide (Stalker) into a cordoned off “zone” that may have been visited by a meteorite (or aliens) a couple of decades earlier. Their destination – a room in the zone that according to legend grants people their deepest desire, the one that has made them suffer the most. We gush over Tarkovsky’s filmmaking, his use of sound and music, and the richness of the questions this movie raises about meaning, art, delusion, desire, science, and faith.

Plus, does having a small penis make you want to buy a sports car? Pre-crisis social psychology is back!