Rating: 
Summary: Solaris - One Soviet Product That Was Credible!
Review: The Soviet film "Solaris" can never equal "2001, a Space Oddysey", but it is not far behind. Unlike the Sci-Fi of the Soviet Union itself, the film Solaris is likeable and credible. A fine effort produced in a society that was brutal and crude in almost everything it did. This film belongs in any true Sci-Fi afficionado's collection.
Rating: 
Summary: An exploration of another world and the human mind
Review: Yes, this film is long and has legthy scenes where there is neither significant action, not substantive dialog. However, the film, I believe, is intended to create an atmosphere and does so with nary a frame of film out of place. You could absorb the entire story, characters and plot in a film half the length, but miss the wonderful flavour of the film. As an example of what I mean, consider some of the scenes in Lawrence Of Arabia, another slightly more well known film of some length. There is a scene that lasts about five minutes and show nothing other than the sun rising in the desert. This, in my opinion, is not editorial laziness, but the establishment of a mood and evocation of an atmosphere, preparing the audience for the forthcoming scenes. Solaris is a planet an undetermined distance from Earth. There is a man made satelite exploration station in orbit over the planet and a psychologist is sent to the station to investigate some peculiar events. The scientists have been bombarding the surface of the planet with radiation resulting in some perturbing manifestations, side effects of the blending of human minds and the apparently intelligent (though not in our way of understanding) planet's ocean surface. The film explores the human's different reactions to these manifestions. I have also read the book, Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem, and the film is signifcantly different take, although just a legitimate, in my view. One of the driving messages that I took home from the book was just how difficult it was for Man to accept that he can observe something as complex and fascinating as Solaris, but even applying all the science and culmination of man's knowledge, still fail to understand what he is seeing. The film does not stray from the space station as much as the book does, and tends to spend more time portraying the gradual madness that descends on the newcomer, a madness that his colleagues (one already deceased) are already sunk into by the time he arrives. However, in the end, both book and film, do not attempt to make any conclusive revelation about the nature of the planet, but rather, make subjective revelations about ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Solaris is more near to us that a distant - fantasy planet
Review: Lem-Tarkovsky give us a more subtle version of the concept of materialized thought-forms that the given by the classical SF films: "Forbidden Planet", "Event Horizon" and "Contact" that have their literary roots in the words: "we are made of the stuff of dreams" spoken in Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" (circa the 16th century AC). As opposed to Clarke-Kubrich's 2001 thesis of mankind evolutionary trascendence to new levels of material organization (eg. "lifelike" stellar structures) at the end of the latter film, "Solaris" finale is openly different, its contention being that before trascendence to some exotic alien conscious life form as Solaris itself we must CONMUNE with ourselves and others present around us in our present evolutionary stage of development. This is the meaning of the superb final scene of the embrace of the materialized "ideal-like father" in the "ideal-like home world" of Chris childhood. May be Solaris is the metaphor of our present intelligent Universe o better "Multiverse" that try to communicate this message to us through the scientifically mindblowing Near Dead Experiences and related phenomena that seems to hook "reality" and dreams in "larger than life" conscious materializations of our deepest psychic longings. Finally though I am informed about the latter clash of Tarkovsky with the soviet system, "Solaris" could not be made without the support of a system created for support the arts without distortions of "profit making" interferences. "Solaris" is infused with the idealism of a society working for CONMUNE human beings NOW in our primitive stage of evolutionary growth.
Rating:
Summary: Like Contact, but different
Review: Solaris is definitely worth seeing if you liked Contact. It is like Contact or 2001, but the entity that is being contacted is much less paternalistic and god-like. Solaris is a planet with an ocean that is learning about what is contacting it by using the tactic of mirroring. It tries to establish a common language by merging with the "ocean" between its visitors ears. Solaris, the ocean, is not omnipotent as in Contact or 2001, but more like a contact made between two lovers, so you would expect it to be very chaotic. Solaris, the ocean, is what you want it to be: its definition is relative to its visitor, because "it takes two to tango". I was expecting Solaris to be profound on the big questions of the Unknown, but unlike Contact and 2001, it defaulted to how one human *dealt* with the Unknown. (The movie avoided the concept of reconciling all the characters dealings with Solaris, but rather dismissed it as individual "hallucinations" - this would have been extremely interesting in determining who the ocean really was!) The movie addressed issues of Identity but not so much as with Purpose. There was some Russian philosophy that I'm sure I didn't "get", partly because of the subtitling and my lack or education in the field. So I came away without "closure", which is ok, because after all, we're dealing with the Unknown. I felt like a kid just comprehending Infinity and trying to map it unsuccessfully to something I already knew. It's a great movie because it grapples with those concepts from a different culture's perspective. In a sense, I made contact with a different culture... and by the way, that type of "recursiveness" is built into the photographic perspectives to some extent. It's one of those movies that I have displayed in my living room so that I can view it with my friends over and over. Discussions after the viewing are usually pretty cool. Solaris, the movie, is like Solaris, the ocean, its definition is relative to the viewer. You'll watch it again and again, and each viewing will be deeper and different, because you are different at each viewing. ;)
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: There are only very few like Tarkovsky who draw movies (Paradjanov, Fellini, to name but a few). I guess the word "painter" may not only describe oil, pencil and canvas, but rather be attached to a way of thinking and portraying your ideas and thoughts. Unlike "The Mirror", "Solaris" involves a distinct storyline, a very subtle though. Here Tarkovsky adapts the famous story by Stanislav Lem. He actually goes into slightly different depths in "Solaris", making another attempt to explore human soul. The movie is about a distant oceanic planet that may take different forms and shapes. Throughout the movie the main hero Chris slowly comes to the painful conclusion that the shapes adapted by the oceanic mass are not random, but rather depict minds of those on the space station. The ocean is nothing but embodied human thoughts and memories. At the end, I would completely agree to the reviewer who asked not to compare "Solaris" with junk like "2001: Space Odyssey". Enjoy the masterpiece!
Rating: 
Summary: surreal
Review: I have seen this film about five times, the lat time must have about 5-8 years ago. But I still can clearly remember images and feeling of eeriness.This is the movie for some who can stop and think, try to understand and feel surreality and humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Andrei Tarkovsky is not only capably of making an excellent thriller, but he very closely examines his characters and the way they react to different things, as well as providing some incredible images. Tarkovsky is known for saying that a good movie should not be entertaining. This may hold true to "The Sacrifice" or "The Mirror," but this is a brilliant science fiction masterpiece that is good AND entertaining. The acting is flawless and the script is very well written, allowing for some close examination of each individual cosmonaut on board Solaris. For any who are unfamilair with the plot, it involves a group of cosmonauts who are in orbit above a planet consisting completely of water. The water seems to be alive and is manifesting hallucinations of what the crew is thinking about, or people from their past. The people react with fear and compassion to these different occurences, and try to figure out how to stop this, or if they even want to. Fans of "2001: A Space Odyssey" should not miss this, and once viewing this masterpiece you will realize how many films have been influenced by this one ("Event Horizon," for example).
Rating: 
Summary: Fooled by the Hype
Review: The excitement of possibly discovering an unknown gem was real,and the film's beginning meditations on water,earth and sky seemed promising.However the remainder of this movie must have written by a teenager impressed with his own wisdom.LONG and TEDIOUS are the obvious adjectives.It is unbelievable this small film is even compared to the majestic 2001.The scene where Chris places Hari in the rocket and blasts her from the space station is unintentionally funny;he would have been burned to a crisp.I guess at the time we wanted to heap praise and encouragement on the oppressed Russian film industry.
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Summary: FILMS LIKE THIS ARE SELDOM MADE ANY MORE...
Review: Thoughtful and soulful film adaptation of the novel by Stanislaw Lem. Instead of Galactic Special Effects and/or body parts and blood pouring out of the screen, this film asks deep psychological and metaphysical questions about human nature and what we are really looking for in our search for extraterrestrial life. Both Stanislaw Lem and Tarkovsky produced their art under repressive regimes and as a result their work tends to be more analytical of the human condition. At the end of Kubrick's 2001 as the Starchild hovers over the Earth, you might as well put an American flag in the fetus' hand and replace "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with the "Stars and Stripes Forever" as the Universe evolves into the Human Superman,(then again, maybe "Zarathustra" with its hint of Nietszche is all too appropriate...). Not SOLARIS. Like much of Eastern European literature and film the artist keeps tongue firmly in cheek when dealing with the human animal and at the end of SOLARIS, no beaming Starchild, but a beaten, lonely man on his knees. Interesting film with a valuable message.
Rating:
Summary: Solaris... a magnificent sci-fi movie
Review: First, the movie takes you into its own tempo with an amazing soundtrack and a unique photography. Tarkovsky explores the dilema of the real and the desirable If is it correct to live an unreal experience,confronting the conscious and unconscious. The movie ends with an open interrogant about how the supression of feelings. If the members of solaris have real feelings toward unreal things; why should they eliminate these feelings? Solaris is a complete experience of fascinating images and sounds. This movie has nothing to do with space oddesey 2001; Kubrick and Tarkovsky have complete different treatments for these films. The only simililarity is that both are space movies created in the middle of the space race (1970) that have to some extent similarities in scenic design and I guess this is because both directors use as consultants real space scientists that gave them a real approach of how would look a sapce station.
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