January 22, 2024

This is the famous “Knights of Malta Keyhole” found in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta in Rome. I love the wabi-sabi of the doors, the wear of which is a testimony to the thousands and thousands of tourists who visit every year, just for a peek through the famed keyhole. They patiently stand in a snaking line that has become progressively longer over the years, for basically nothing. A few seconds to peer through or hold their camera and snap a photo. That phenomenon, in and of itself, should be a tourist attraction. Perhaps it is, in a way. Perhaps it is, and I’m just missing the meta-ness. Or, what is much more likely, the Instagram opp.

Solaris is gorgeous, as are all of Tarkovsky’s films. I’m sure his oeuvre will gradually decrease in popularity and eventually disappear in step with people’s attention spans, as they require long stretches of contemplative drifting through slow, panning images. Spectacular, all of them. I’ve never seen a bad one. But my bet is you’ll never watch it, because there will be no one to make you do it. Che peccato.