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After Solaris, he (Andrei Tarkovsky) made a film called The Mirror. This is a film about his childhood memories, and many say this is too difficult to grasp. At first sight, it is a film that seems to have no linear development. But when are childhood memories ever remembered in logical sequence?

The very nature of these inexplicable links between fragmented memories holds the essence of the poetry of childhood memories. If you watch with that in mind, it is the easiest film to understand. But Tarkovsky plays dumb and says nothing. And this is what convinces me of his potential. Those who spend too much time explaining their own films don't have much of a future.

Akira Kurosawa
from an essay for the Ashai Shinbun newspaper (1977)