Andrei Tarkovsky's second student film, There Will Be No Leave Today is a competent and suspenseful film that succeeds in its simplicity. The story concerns a group of soldiers taking care of some unexploded bombs discovered in a village. It's plot focused and propagandistic so it's not exactly the style that Tarkovsky would eventually adopt, but it has all sorts of wonderful shot compositions and a nice sense of scale. There Will Be No Leave Today is a tense and engaging watch; an impressive student film.

Andrei Tarkovsky Ranked

What this put me in mind of most was The Wages of Fear. While not quite as suspenseful as that, it certainly makes the most of its premise, milking every possible moment, but not overdoing it. At the same time, it has the feel of an educational video for some reason--possibly the way the title is displayed and the way it's sort of straight forward. It's hard to shake the feeling that this should have a cheezy, warm narrator warning me against drugs or jaywalking. Part of that is the small town setting and atmosphere and the lack of very much characterization. It's more plot than anything else, and still, it works out well enough as you watch the soldiers deal with the bombs.

Hitchcock meets Chernobyl.

Apparently the VGIK wanted Andrei and Aleksandr Gordon to make an easy to consume movie, and it shows. It's just hilarious in hindsight considering types of films Tarkovsky would follow up with. But as a student film it's quite remarkable and was clearly backed by a lot of money.

Tarkovsky directed a slick, psychology-free suspense procedural? Who knew? Seriously reminded me of Chernobyl, especially through the small glimpses into the lives of the characters within the tight constraints of a ticking clock narrative. They have lives outside of this story, but the story is all we see. The man was a massive talent from the get-go, I miss him more every day.

It’s strange when propaganda films are this good, but then the propaganda isn’t much at the forefront. It’s basically the story of a group of soldiers who have to remove thirty tons of stockpiled bombs unearthed near a school by civil works. Intended to be commercial enough for television, Tarkovsky and co-director Aleksandr Gordon prove masters of suspense. Your stomachs swoop with each slight shudder near a bomb.

Bir kadının yataktan çıkmasının seksen yedi sayfa sürdüğü bir Marcel Proust romanına rastlamış ve onu hep iyi anmaya yemin etmiş bulunduysanız, bu filmi de aynı sevecenlikle kutsamış ve bu tür işlere sempati besleyen tavrınızla filmi benimsemiş bulunabilirsiniz. Ama sanatın sahteciliği hakkında kendinizi kandırmaktan yorulmuş ve bunu reddetmiş ölü bir beynin hazzına çoktan yenik düşmüşseniz, o vakit bu filmi kapatıp keyiflenmek için başka bir filmin arayışında bulursunuz kendinizi. Hangi üslubu savunmam gerektiğini anlayamadığım, senaryoyu kötü bulduğum ve filmden keyif alamadığım gerekçesiyle film hakkında çok fazla konuşmama kanaati içerisine girmek zorunda kaldım maalesef.. Pek de beğenmedim zaten. Eh demek ki neymiş Tarkovsky bile olsan öğrenciyken başka bir arkadaşının ortak film çekme arzusunu her zaman reddetmek en makbul olanıymış. Hayat dersimi aldım, gidiyorum.

This possessed a sort of a 50's Hollywood B-movie vibe. Not quite the brilliant minimalist intensity of Tarkovsky's earlier student short, The Killers. It has its moments, but it's far from the most thrilling film about bomb transportation you'll see.

This actually works best in the beautiful pastoral moments, where it has a chance to breathe. Tarkovsky was particularly adept at framing the long, flowing hair of women in sunlit rural landscapes.

Today I am thankful for Soviet cinema.

Moments of tensions and awe feature in “There Will Be No Leave Today”, but the film falters a bit when the intriguing premise spirals into a messy film with several plot lines, which simply doesn’t work with such a short runtime. However, it’s mostly quite visually interesting, and while some of it doesn’t work, it’s still a remarkable early achievement for Tarkovsky.

Andrei Tarkovsky Ranked

Didn't like it as much as Tarkovsky's previous short film, The Killers, but it it a nice watch actually. It has some amazing shot composition and the production ain't bad actually. The story is good and there are some really intense moments. It does feel kinda drugged out at points and my biggest gripe with it is that it really feels like a propaganda. And it ain't the style of Tarkovsky and also I don't like that style of films, they feel kinda over-patriotic to me.

It's functional, was an interesting enough watch in its own right and definitely worthwhile for historical interest, but you can tell this was made on assignment.

This Tarkovsky guy seems like he has something. I wonder what he's gonna make next

The second short film, "Segodnya Uvolneniya Ne Budet (There Will Be No Leave Today)", which Andrei Tarkovsky shot with his classmate Aleksandr Gordon in 1959 while studying at VGIK (State Institute of Cinema of the Russian Federation).

✨ asmr digging up missiles ✨

Almost boring by design in an effort by their film professor to teach directors Andrei Tarkovsky and Aleksandr Gordon the basics of filmmaking by imposing restrictions on the narrative structure. It is obviously unfair to call this a true Tarkovsky featurette as this was obviously just a test for the two students, and if you can ignore the forgettable characters, simplistic plot, and propagandistic tone (although it isn't particularly overbearing) then you might be able to spot little inklings of Tarkovsky’s experimental camera style and control over tension beginning to take form here.

There nothing to really say about this film as it's just average. There's nothing too great or even good about it, but there's nothing bad about it either. Luckily Tarkovskys next film had great reviews though.

how.. how did Andrei Tarkovsky make a boring movie?

The music is very nice, the rest of the movie is boring overall.

bad editing - it’s like they didn’t even know how to properly use final cut pro

Pretty cool. Could have used some subjectivity to raise the tension though.

"Don't worry. Stop screaming."

The government paying Tarkovsky to make an easily-digestible, propagandistic film is about as dry as it sounds, and probably could've been made by anyone.

That said, There Will Be No Leave Today or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Move the Bomb is not only a competently made film, but a very impressive student production where the scale of a full-town evacuation and team of soldiers on a bomb removal mission is convincingly portrayed.

There are moments of humour and attempts at characterisation, and genuinely suspenseful scenes, with some ingenious uses of surprise and misdirection, especially in the edit and sound design. But overall, it does feel like something you'd be shown in a classroom.