The Steamroller and the Violin (1961)
"Katok i skripka" (original title)

Sasha (Igor Fomchenko) is a small boy. He lives alone with his mother in an apartment building and spends his time practising the violin... See full synopsis »

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

S. Bakhmetyeva (story), Andrey Konchalovskiy,

Stars:

Igor Fomchenko, Vladimir Zamanskiy, Marina Adzhubei

Cast

Credited cast:
Igor Fomchenko	...	Sasha
Vladimir Zamanskiy	...	Sergei
Marina Adzhubei	...	Mother
Yuri Brusser	...	(as Yura Brusser)
Vyacheslav Borisov	...	(as Slava Borisov)
Aleksandr Vitoslavsky	...	(as Sasha Vitoslavsky)
Aleksandr Ilin	...	(as Sasha Ilin)
Lyudmila Semyonova
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Natalya Arkhangelskaya	...	Girl
Zhenya Fedchenko
M. Figner
Gena Klyachkovsky
Igor Korovikov
Kolya Kozarev
Antonina Maksimova

Storyline

Sasha (Igor Fomchenko) is a small boy. He lives alone with his mother in an apartment building and spends his time practising the violin... See full synopsis »

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Plot Keywords:

movie theater | student film | apple | road roller | violin | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

18 August 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Skating Rink and the Violin

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm Children's Film Unit

Technical Specs

Runtime:

46 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although it is a pleasant picture on the DVD cover, the image has been reversed left to right, as violin bows are held with the right hand (as in the film), not the left hand (as in the still).

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Connections

Referenced in Life as a Dream (2007)

User Reviews

In the beginning

Andrei Tarkovsky's school graduation project, the short film Katok i Skripka or Steamroller and the Violin (1960), by the words of Russian critic Maya Turovskaya, the first rate film, is promise of the things that would come so powerfully in his later films. The most important part of the little film was the joy of showing the beauty and poetry of the ordinary familiar things. The whole world of the film is saturated in colors, filled by myriads of playful solar spots, mirror reflections (yes, mirror - one of the favorite Tarkovsky's images is already presented here), patches of light on water, all living, pulsing, sparkling. Tarkovsky's camera man, the famous cinematographer Vadim Yusov recalls that the idea of the film came to young director after watching the French short film "Red Balloon" (1956) by Albert Lamorisse that ran successfully in the theaters at the time. "Red Balloon" defined the color palette of Tarkovsky's movie. The dominant color for Katok i Skripka was red mixed with yellow and compared to blue in the sky above and in the clothing of two main characters, the young boy playing violin and the grown up man, the driver of a steamroller, who had became his friend, even if for a short time.

I'd say that the first Tarkovsky's work is perhaps his most accessible, light, sweet, and warm - the terms we don't usually associate with the master of serious metaphysical, deeply philosophical, even cosmic films that lack conventional dramatic structure. I think it would be a good starting point for anyone interested in Tarkovsky's work. It is interesting to compare Katok i Skripka to Tarkovsky's next work, his first feature, astounding Ivanovo Detstvo (Ivan's Childhood), another film about a boy but completely different from Steamroller and the Violin.

For his diploma project, Andrei Tarkovsky won the first prize at the New York Student Film Festival in 1961.