Solaris

Rating:
Summary: A space race the USSR won
Review: Like the U.S., who started out behind in the space race and pulled to the fore by landing on the moon, Russia felt under the gun so to speak with the release of '2001 A Space Odyssey' by director Stanley Kubrick.
SOLARIS is a long 169 minutes, but is presented as to make the viewer feel every minute is necessary, and it is.
Something had to be done, so they enlisted Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky to outclass Kubrick. Tarkovsky rose to the challenge, and superceded Kubrick in SOLARIS, based on an excellent book by Polish author Stanislav Lem of the same title.
Because of the lavish photography and lengthy scenes, this film has been called 'pretentious', but it is a pretension made worthy by the final product.
SOLARIS is a brilliant pyschological drama on a grand scheme. The sets are fantastic, as is the performance by the actors.
The surface of planet the space station Solaris orbits is all made of liquid, but it is liquid with a consciousness akin to a brain. Ultimately, the planet attempts to communicate with the crew of the Solaris space station, and constructs dopplegangers dredged from the minds of the crew to accommodate a dialogue. This, of course, begins to drive both the crew and the newly made creations of the planet insane.
The DVD is, as usual with Criterion editions, fantastic. With nine deleted scenes and interviews, plus an excellent essay by the unlikely Akira Kurosawa, the extra material makes the high cost of this edition well worth it. A must have film for any sci-fi fan.

Rating:
Summary: Smart sci-fi masterpiece
Review: In Solaris, Chris Kelvin is a psychologist who goes onto a space station orbiting above an ocean planet. There has been a lot of strange things happening on the station, and some of the crew members have died. Chris is to go there to find the source of the problems, and decide if the mission should be shut down. When he arrives the two final members of the crew are distant and talk with cryptic messages. They say the planet's ocean is alive and can bring forth people/things from your memory/imagination into reality. What is the strange secret about this planet? What are the implications this new discovery brings, on how we view morality/love/meaning?

This film is based on the sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem, and directed by Russian master director Andrei Tarkovsky. ... This film is long and slow. They have some discussions, then some beautiful images, then back to discussions. This film is not for enjoyment, to sit back and enjoy; its to long and slow for that. This film is more like a intriguing equation. In the end it makes a beautiful whole, with interesting ideas to ponder. This is a film with messages, concerns, questions and answers, something most films lack these days. As well as a cool sci-fi story. The Criterion Collection DVD is loaded with very good extras. 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: the one on the dvd is a new movie
Review: if you only had the chance to wacht Solaris on video before (in my case on a non original, low quality video), then you really haven't seen this picture, or any other Tarkovsky picture, for that matter. i rest my case simply in the first image imediatly after the opening credits. there's no point for me to try to explain what i mean, i suggest you just wacht it and then you'll "feel" what i mean. i won't even mention the expectacular bonus material that the criterion collection has compilled. don't miss also the other tarkovsky film in the version release by criterion, Andrei Rublev

Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking, Soulful Science Fiction
Review: Andrei Tarkovsky's "Solaris," offered in an absolutely stunning digital transfer from the talented folks at Criterion, is an acquired taste. It's long, incredibly slow in its pacing, and oddly moderate in tone despite its subject matter (the main character, Kris, played by Donatas Banionis, seems too restrained at times, given what he experiences). It contains some idiosyncratic, perhaps even questionable, narrative and aesthetic choices. And it balances the intellectual and the emotional very precariously; even though Tarkovsky wanted to make a film that was more humane and emotional than Kubrick's "2001" (which he found to be cold and sterile), "Solaris" is still a film about abstract ideas, making one wonder if Tarkosvky succeeded in his aims. These elements can get in the way of the film's wonder and beauty if viewers aren't deliberately open to its possibilities.

For all of its techno-scienctific and philosophical approach to its themes of love, life, memory, grief, humanity, reality, and perception, "Solaris" is, at its core, a heartbreaking, soulful mystery that renders its deepest meanings not through space travel or planetary exploration or battles between good and evil, but through a touching, mystical relationship between a grieving widower and the dream-like, tangible apparition of his dead wife. Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, travels to a Russian space station hovering above the planet Solaris to investigate trouble and determine if the station should remain operational. In the process, he gets trapped by Solaris's mystery, the ability of its conscious, sentient life force to probe his memories and consciousness. His late wife Hari (magnificently played by Natalya Bondarchuk) appears and reappears and struggles to understand who (or what) she is, while Kelvin must struggle to understand his grief, his memory, and the proper uses of science and technology.

The remarkability of "Solaris" as a cinematic experience lies not only in the intrigue of its central event, but also in Tarkosvky's subtle, respectful, and appropriate emotional touch. If it takes a seemingly lengthy amount of time before Kelvin (and we) experience Solaris and its mysteries, the methodical pace makes the emotional impact all the more significant. Hari's and Kelvin's struggles are heartbreaking, and precisely because Tarkovsky needn't spell them out; he gives them the time and space they require. In addition, Tarkovsky's visuals are perfectly attuned to his intelletcual and emotional themes. In that stunningly beautiful, dreamlike, famous brief moment when Hari and Kris experience weightlessness in the space station, the film becomes viscerally alive, and you momentarily wonder if you have ever seen anything more beautiful.

"Solaris" is demanding, no doubt, and just when it seems that you have come to understand what it means, Tarkovsky makes it more mysterious by offering an ending that will force you to rethink the entire film. It's also a unique cinematic experience, a testament to Tarkovsky's powerful artistry, and proof that the most demanding of works tend to offer the most lasting rewards.

Rating:
Summary: 2001 Anti-Matter...A Different Vision
Review: Made in the Soviet Union a few years after Kubrick's 2001, Solaris is maddening, enigmatic, sometimes illogical and frustrating, but in the end an engrossing, moody, eliptical meditation on science and morality, conscience and guilt, love and indifference.

The director, Andrei Tarkovsky, had seen 2001 prior to filming Solaris, and was determined to go in a different direction from the meticulous & detailed technologic bent of Kubrick's masterpiece. Special effects here are minimal, but adequate for Tarkovsky to tell his story. His is a messy, humanistic affair, with a trashed and lived-in space station as its setting, quite the oppposite of the coldly logical, icy brilliance of Kubrick's vision. Both films are concerned with the reason and meaning of being and mankind's fate or destiny, but while Kubrick's is related with minimal dialogue, Tarkovsky's people talk and talk.

I found the Solaris dialogue at times intriguing, often ungraspable and opague, enigmatic in interesting ways, and sometimes unnecessarily enigmatic at other times. The great similarity between the two films is the fantastic visual feast both directors bring to their very different stories. Kubrick's film captures the cold emptiness and vast isolation of space, and the tremendous amount of technology required to put fragile humans in that hostile environment. Tarkovky's space station is messy, used, lived-in and familiar, i.e., a human habitat.

The two films have a couple of other things in common: in both films the most "human" character in the story is "non-human", HAL in 2001, and Hari in Solaris; and, both the central characters eventually are taken on a mind-bending journey within themselves and without to a somewhere other than the world they know.

The Tarkovsky film is a 70's film. That means long takes and tracking shots, with a slow narrative that doesn't have jump cuts and the razzle-dazzle of today's editing. It requires patience and probably more than one viewing to absorb. Even at that, it will be open to interpretation, because for all the dialogue, Tarkovsky doesn't explain a lot, and in some instances, refutes the inner logic of this own story. This won't matter to many viewers who will be content with the visual treats and the wonderful evocation of mood and mystery, and a story of the emphemeral nature of love and existence, so easily slipping from one's grasp. Others may find it too confusing and slow and lose patience.

Considering the conditions and restrictions Andrei Tarkovsky was working under , both financially and politically, his achievement here is as impressive as Kubrick's daring and innovative film. Except for a few scenes that may be oblique comments on the Soviet system, you would not know this film had arisen from under the weight of that regime. Although sometimes a bit heavy-handed, Solaris is a film about the nature and meaning of being human, and how that fits in an increasingly cold and technological world. If you aren't in a hurry, it may be worth your while. 4-1/2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: An Overlooked Epic
Review: 'Solaris' is a great movie that has, in my opinion, been overlooked in the mainstream as a milestone epic in the SciFi genre. If you're not a fan of the genre, however, do not allow the SciFi label to scare you away. 'Solaris' draws on many other genres as well, including drama, mystery, and psychological thriller, to create a movie that is more philosophical in nature than your run-of-the-mill scifi flick. Although slow paced and long, the style is very suited to the movie, and you're left knowing that every moment was necessary. If you're looking for a guilty pleasure movie that allows you to sit back and rest your mind, then save 'Solaris' for another night; this is the type of movie that will have you thinking about it while watching it and long after you've turned off the DVD player.
It is also important to note the quality and bonus features of this particular edition. I've viewed another, earlier, DVD of this, but it lacked both of the aforementioned extras that you'll find here.

Rating:
Summary: Its Strengths Far Outweigh its Weaknesses
Review: Though it suffers from a maudlin and morbid fascination with negative emotions, Solaris is a tremendous achievement. The achievement is in the extreme physical beauty of the film itself and the challenging intelligence of the ideas raised but not always explored. At issue is nothing less than the nature of humanity. Is a human defined by its conciousness, its memories, its emotions, its senses, its history, its origin, its desire to live or some combination of all or some of those traits. Be forewarned, the film is extremely slow and deliberate & its lacks any real plot. We americans tend to like our movies with plots. It many cultures, the ideas are more important than the plots but in America the plot is generally more important than the ideas. Consequently, idea driven movies like Solaris are seen as dull and boring because there is no forward momentum. Here in America, it is considered acceptable to respond to movies like Solaris by saying, "I don't watch movies to think. If I want to think, I'll read a book." This is what happens when you raise millions of people on television and fast food.

Rating:
Summary: Solaris Review
Review: A widely misunderstood Soviet film, Solaris, directed by
André Tarkovski from the book by Stanislav Lem, depicts
problems faced by some astronauts in a space station that is
orbiting the planet Solaris in a faraway galaxy.
Of an original group of eighty-five astronauts, only two are
left. Most have fled, others have gone mad and been shipped
back to Earth. Several have killed themselves.
The surface of Solaris is one vast ocean, which is also a
single living mind. This planet-ocean-mind is playing some
kind of awful mental trick on its visitors.
Back on Earth, puzzled space officials send a psychologist,
Kris Kelvin, to investigate. Before leaving the planet for outer
space, Kelvin spends his final weeks visiting his father in a
small house deep in some woods. He immerses himself in the
forest and takes long, silent walks through meadows. The film
moves exceedingly slowly at this point. There are long se-
quences in which nothing but natural events of the forest pass
by the camera lens. Nature-time.
Sometimes the camera follows Kelvin's eyes as they absorb
the surroundings. It rains. He is soaked. Back at his cabin, his
body is warmed by a fire.
Finally it is time to leave. Now the camera is in the front
seat of the car, sitting where Kelvin is sitting. We see what he
sees.
Slowly the terrain changes. Winding wooded roads give way
to straight, one-lane roads. The foliage recedes from the high-
way. Then we are on a freeway. The environment has become
speeding cars, overpasses, underpasses, tunnels. Soon, we are
in a city. There is noise, light, buildings everywhere. The
natural landscape is submerged, invisible. Homocentric land-
scapes, abstract reality prevail. From there it's a fast cut to
space.
Kelvin is alone in a small space vehicle, heading toward
Solaris. Earth is gone. His roots have been abandoned.
Grounding, by definition, is impossible. His whole environ-
ment is abstract. His planetary home now exists only in
memory.
Arriving at the space station, Kelvin understands Solaris'
trick. It enters visitors' memories and then creates real-life
manifestations of them. This begins to happen to Kelvin. His
long-dead wife appears in his room. At first he believes it is
an image of her; then he realizes it is not just an image, it is
actually she. And yet, they are both aware that she is only a
manifestation of his mind. So she is simultaneously real and
imaginary.
Other people from Kelvin's life appear in the lab. He en-
counters the re-created memories of the other two astronauts;
relatives, old friends, toys, scraps of long-abandoned clothing,
technical equipment, potted plants, dogs, dwarfs from a child-
hood circus, fields of grass. Things are strewn wildly about as
the visitors from Earth try to figure out what to do with all the
real/unreal stuff that keeps appearing from their memories.
The space station takes on the quality of a dream, a carnival,
a lunatic asylum.
The scientists consider returning to Earth as the others
have. Kelvin favors this move as he feels his sanity slipping,
yet he realizes that to leave means "killing" his rediscovered
wife. Back on Earth she will be a memory, much as Earth
has become in this space station. She understands this, and it
is a source of anguish for both of them.
No one among the scientists or their mental creations can
control what will happen. Without concrete reality, which is
to say, contact with their planetary roots, they are adrift in
their minds: insane. All information has become believable
and not believable at the same time. It has become arbitrary.
There is no way to separate the real from the not-real. Al-
though the astronauts know this, since there is nothing that
is not arbitrary, except each other, all information is equal.
It is impossible to determine which information to act on.
Solaris has made the astronauts its subjects. They cannot
defend themselves from the images the planet makes concrete.
In the end, the men have no choice but to accept all informa-
tion has real. Kelvin goes through a long cycle of Earth images,
from childhood to his present space-station life. He is in his
father's house again, but he is also in space. It rains again, but
now the rain is indoors. It might as well be. He cannot distin-
guish. He accepts.
Finally, the message of the film is clear. The process of
going insane began long before the launch into space. It began
when life moved from nature into cities. Kelvin's ride from
woods to city to space was a ride from connection to discon-
nection, from reality to abstraction, a history of technology,
setting the conditions for the imposition of reconstructed reali-
ties by a single powerful force.

This was taken from a book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander. You can find the book online at Amazon.com

Rating:
Summary: perfection
Review: Solaris is sheer brilliance in every meaning of the word.
Stop feeding on drivel and watch this artistic masterpiece.
Your mind will thank you for it.

Rating:
Summary: Art Feeds the Soul
Review: This magnum opus of metaphysical proportions is only strengthened in appreciation by the catastrophe of Steven Soderbergh's Hollywood puny attempt at a remake. It just goes to show that talent is a gift and not something that can be developed by throwing money at it.

No one, no director, no production team, could handle the subject of Stanislaw Lem's incredible novel except for Tarkovsky who is a shining example of a director who has enough emotional clout inside of him to bring the unfilmable to the screen. There is very little doubt that the man is a vessel of questions and has spent much solitary time pondering over them. Solaris is the eventual produce of a mind that has interrogated itself right down to the very last atomic particle.

2001 by Kubrick had an amazing impact on Tarkovsky's vision and gave him the inspiration to put together this sci-fi under Soviet rule with a miniscule production budget to work from. It is like a kid in Africa building a home computer in the recesses of some unknown jungle outpost. The objectives are colossal, almost unobtainable, but the will is there and the payoff is on the screen.

The premise is not simple. A planet called Solaris is being studied by a tracking space station. On board the orbital there are problems as the crew experience abnormal psychological conditions. Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis), a psychiatrist, is sent to the space station to find out what is going on. There he encounters ghostly phenomena where thoughts and dreams appear to realize themselves into reality as a direct result of Solaris's impact on human beings. He finds himself confronted with his dead wife and many philosophical questions rupture the core of his very existence. The shock twist ending only deepens the metaphysical quarry that Tarkovsky has unearthed here.

Unmissable.