Arquivo

A small-town diner is visited by strange men who soon reveal themselves to be hired killers. Before the outlanders find out that their target, a Swede, is not really there, they tie up a customer in the kitchen and cause other claustrophobic situations, leading to an unusual resolution that relativizes the fatality of death. Based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1927. Divided in only three scenes, this short was the first of three films Tarkovsky made while studying at VGIK, the state film school. Despite choosing to adapt the story himself, the lack of filming equipment forced Tarkovsky to cease some directorial duties to his classmates who were also graduating: Maria Beiku and Aleksandr Gordon. The “perverse” Western atmosphere and customs, coupled with the Russian dialogue, were received with awkwardness by audiences at the time. Tarkovsky’s professor, director Mikhail Romm (1901-1971), praised the final result.