{Solyaris}
 The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] --- Subtitled --- Ground control has been receiving strange transmissions from the remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate, he experiences the strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his own consciousness. In Solaris, the legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev) gives us a brilliantly original science-fiction epic that challenges our conceptions about love, truth, and humanity itself. This film is very slow paced and for some, a little too subtle. But if you go into it understanding that, there is a huge amount that one can get out of this film. It is extremely psychologically charged. The whole film is a metaphor for having our deepest desires come true and what the consequences may be. His slow shots, one in particular where Hari is looking at the paintings in the library, allow the viewer of the film to understand that she is becoming human without showing it in a blatant or gratuitous way, as most Hollywood films are. That is just one example. There are many places in this film where you can pause it, and the shot is like a painting. One in particular is the shot of the mother looking out over the hillside with her dog. I also loved the way Tarkovsky shifts back and forth from black and white to color. It, at first, seems simply a way to symbolize past and present, but as the film progresses we realize that it is much more complex than that and that it is more about memory and state of mind. I would recommend this film to anyone who has the patience to truly invest themselves in almost 3 hours of painterly film-making. Its a film to think about over a long period of time. You won't immediately come out of it knowing what you think, but it will creep up on you. Storyline: The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for ten years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence. Written by Dan Ellis Cast Notes: Natalya Bondarchuk (Hari), Donatas Banionis (Kris Kelvin), Jüri Järvet (Dr. Snaut), Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy (Henri Berton), Nikolay Grinko (Kelvin's Father), Anatoliy Solonitsyn (Dr. Sartorius), Olga Barnet (Kris Kelvin's Mother). User Comment: gaddis from california, 19 January 1999 • I'm just starting out into the vast world of foreign film and having seen this film on many a video store shelf, and knowing that it was considered a sci-fi classic, I thought it would be a good way to spend an evening. Based on the case I was expecting something along the line of typical American sci-fi. Needless to say I was wrong. I watched Solyaris twice in two days, because the first time I saw it I knew that I hadn't processed even a quarter of what I knew was there. I was taken completely aback. The second viewing was extremely rewarding. It was unusual for me, raised as I was on the sledgehammer moralizing and we'll make our point so obvious that there's no way you can miss it because we have no respect for your intelligence way of American film. I'm a huge literature buff, and this was one of the very few films I've confronted that is thoughtful and has so many things to say yet does it in a literary or poetic fashion. You will get out of this film what you bring to it. I've been to so many movies where the audience is not actually participating, it's being attacked. But true art is not domineering; it woos you. So to sum up, I greatly appreciated Tarkovsky's unwillingness to manipulate the viewer. It showed that he had respect for me as a thinking soul, and it is this love and respect for humanity which makes this a truly great film. Summary: had to watch it twice. User Comment: McGonigle from bean world, massachusetts, 16 June 2003 • This has to be one of the best science fiction movies ever produced. Not because it's filled with gee-whiz gizmos or creepy aliens (it isn't) but because it actually gives you something to think about besides "I wonder how much they spent on *that* shot". When I was a kid, I used to love reading sci-fi because it stimulated my imagination, but as I grew up (especially once "Star Wars" came out), I found that it was harder and harder to find anything remotely resembling imagination or mystery in the genre. Well, this movie has restored my faith in what is possible to achieve under the guise of "sci-fi" (obviously, it's older than "Star Wars", but I didn't see it until years later, when I had basically written off the whole idea of science fiction movies). I saw it 10-15 years ago when it was re-released in the USA and liked it then, but seeing it again recently has convinced me that this is an all-time classic. As I said, it actually stimulates thought (rare enough in most sci-fi movies), but on top of that, it has a real and profound emotional impact that's far beyond what you find in most "dramas", let alone "kid stuff" like sci-fi. If this movie is intended to be an "answer" to "2001" (I'm not convinced that it is), the main contrast is that "Solaris" concerns itself with real human emotions, whereas the most interesting character in "2001" is the computer. For those who complain that it's boring, just go see something else. You'll obviously never get it. If the opening shot of water and plant life didn't tip you off to the fact that this movie is intentionally paced a little bit more deliberately than, say, "Buckaroo Banzai", then you should go out and try to get some sort of clue before watching this movie. It's not boring... it's SLOW. It's *meant* to be slow. Some of the scenes exist solely to set a mood, not to advance the plot. If you can't handle that, then this isn't the movie or you. But if you're able to sit still for 3 hours without squirming, and if you're able to enjoy a movie without having every idea spelled out in giant neon letters, then you just might like "Solaris", and find that it haunts you for years to come. Summary: One of the best. Recommendation: Arguably one of the greatest and most influential science fiction films ever made, Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris does not need to be promoted or recommended; it simply belongs in any serious film library. Solaris (the novel) [Wikipedia] Solaris is a 1961 Polish science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem. The book is about the ultimate inadequacy of communication between human and non-human species. [Show Spoiler] IMDb Rating (08/18/12): 8.0/10 from 28,720 users
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