As is the case with Tarkovsky's films, Stalker deviates from conventional cinematic structure and storytelling. Tarkovsky's style is about powerful atmospheres, which he creates through sound and visual elements such as water. The language of his films has little to do with logical sequences of events. What he aims at is making an impact on a more direct level. In this sense, Tarkovsky's style is closer to what cinema is natively best suited to and not as a kind of a visual novel. Stalker is perhaps the most mysterious of his films.
As with all new technology, the mental models that guide our use of it rely on that which we are previously familiar with. By the middle of the 20th century, the world had seen film directors who saw the full potential of motion picture. For the likes of Tarkovsky and David Lynch, film was no longer a tool for linear storytelling.
Those of us who are into photography or videography ourselves, have a lot to learn from Tarkovsky's style.