Solaris (1972)

Apparently it's about a cosmonaut visiting the Solaris Space Station where the remaining crew are psychologically disturbed by "visitors". An alien presence that materialise from illusory dreams, the cosmonaut dreams of his late wife. He must then decide to submit to Solaris' hallucinogenic gift or stay in reality. Now, before I anger you film elitists and enthusiasts, I understood the film. I acknowledged what it set out to do. Questioning humanity and its existence, throwing in the concept of clinging onto love. I accept that Solaris paved the way for future science fiction cinematic pieces, much like 2001 did. There's no doubt in my mind that Tarkovsky's artistic sensitivity aids in the haunting visceral tone beneath the narrative. Jarring scene transitions of wild foliage, extensive long takes and the dream inspired visuals of Solaris. Natalia Bondarchuk is a revelation and is easily the best performer against a tediously monotonous cast. Artemiev's score was beautifully resonating and suited the atmosphere (or lack of...). With all that said, I struggled. My mind consistently kept switching off as I tried my absolute hardest to stay focussed. It's just too slow for its own good. Possibly one of the slowest films I've ever seen. I'm all for a slow pace in order to evoke a meditative aura within the narrative. But when the script is far too meticulous and constantly preaches about love, 166 minutes feels like an eternity. Needless to say Part Two was slightly more involving that Part One, but I still felt distant from the story. It's far too cold. Ironic considering Tarkovsky claimed Kubrick's '2001' was too sterile. Perhaps I need to adapt to Tarkovsky's signature storytelling methods, I felt the exact same with 'Stalker' being too slow. Critically this film is near faultless with what it sets out to do, but I have to consider my own personal enjoyment which is why I must substantially mark this down. Perhaps on a future viewing I'll become more invested now that I know what I'm getting myself into.

This film is reminiscent of the old Star Trek if the captain was a bit melancholic and targetted by alien intelligence. The theme of the film is as if the planet's intelligence reaches the men on the station to keep them there. It uses love, the rematerialization of loved ones to entrap finally our hero. It's a B movie for us but was an A movie at the time for the Russian empire. Some pretty good effects for the time, looking quite cheap by today's standards. The story moves at snail pace possibly to keep us guessing and show us special effects.

A lovely A Space Odyssey-esque film. Artsy and filled with quiet, comtemplative scenes. It's interesting how the film explored human personality and extraterrestrial communication through the ocean's probing of the scientists' mind and trying to understand them using "guests". The philosophical ramblings seemed out-of-place sometimes. Good cinematography too, there's a bunch of pretty shots and cool visuals. Solaris got me into Tarkovsky's other works.

Kris Kelvin is a renowned psychologist, about to head to the space station orbiting the planet Solaris. Several years earlier Solaris was the focal point of scientific research. Then a research party met with a fatal accident while exploring the surface and a member of the rescue party reported seeing strange apparitions. This dimmed the scientific community's interest in the planet to the extent that the space station's crew has decreased from 85 to only 3. When Dr Kelvin arrives he immediately senses that something strange is afoot...Directed by renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, the movie has his trademark thought-provocation and beautifully lingering camera shots. The plot itself is original and, for the most part, intriguing.However, it is also massively padded (and I'm not referring the aforementioned lingering camera shots - those are pure art). While Stalker was equally long, it never drifted or got bogged down. Solaris, on the other hand, has long stretches that don't add anything to the movie and feel like old ground being re-covered. Most of these scenes involve the romantic angle to the movie, an angle that was necessary to the plot but was massively overdone and over-sentimentalised. Instead of a profound sci fi drama you often feel you're watching a sappy romantic drama.It all comes together in the end though, but via a rather torturous route.Good, but could have been great.