A travelogue of sorts that doubles as a brief but welcome insight into the filmmaking philosophy of famous Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky, Voyage in Time documents his travels in Italy in preparation for the making of his film Nostalghia, and is more a companion piece that finds him scouting locations with writer Tonino Guerra than an exploration of his cinematic style & influences.
Written & directed by both Guerra & Tarkovsky, this 63 mins documentary presents the two artists discussing art, culture, history & philosophy in addition to their views on the nature of cinema. But despite its short runtime, it somehow manages to be a slog with its vast stretches of nothingness. It's only captivating in bits n pieces, and those interesting parts together would've sufficed as a featurette.
The best segments are the ones where Tarkovsky gets to answer the questions that were posed by his admirers. But there's like only three questions in total; one asking about the filmmakers he admires, second asking about his advice to young directors and final one being his stance on genres & commercial cinema. He is very articulate & honest in his replies and that's why it makes one wish there were more questions.
Overall, Voyage in Time (also called Tempo di viaggio) neither has the behind-the-scenes footage of Andrei Tarkovsky nor a candid conversation with the director to dissect his body of work in depth. The camera hovers over images for far too long while the duo are engaged in discussions, and is dull, tedious & uninspiring for the most part if not all. In short, this quasi-documentary is best reserved for Tarkovsky completists.
