Soderbergh channels Kubrick and pulls it off!
Solaris is one of those great, true Sci-Fi movies that most people who believe they love Sci-Fi will hate. Because they usually associate the genre with heavy action scenes loaded with explosions and the like, these fans will walk away from this movie wondering what just happened to the 90 minutes they spent in the theater and will review it to their friends like a bad Action movie instead of a great Sci-Fi movie.
The movie itself is gorgeous and set at the same quiet pace usually found in Kubrick films - slow, controlled, and mysterious with touches of eerie music in the right places to cue the audience into a change. I can see already how some of my fellow reviewers, even those that do this professionally, will walk away claiming that is boring or confusing, when in fact it is one of the more simple Sci-Fi movies I've ever had to explain.
The thing you have to ask yourself at the end is, would you go as far as the main character did to be with the one he loves?
I give it an 8 out of 10. See it on the big screen to get the best effect.
Simplicity Doesn't Automatically Mean Not Having To Think
Some of the most simple experiences entail the most complex philsophical thought - love, death, sacrifice, remorse, regret, second chances. What would you do if you had a chance to do something over? Simple questions, but difficult answers. A simple sunset, ocean or water rushing down a stream, sitting on a rock...simple but complex sensations that one can ponder and sit in meditation for hours. Solaris (both this new version as well as the older more complex and richly dense version) offer something to experience and reflect, perhaps because of their simplicity, the silence and deliberate pacing of the movie where behavior and images speak louder than words and actions. A couple sitting quietly in front of a fireplace - an image, a feeling, a reflection of time past or future, relating to something real or imagined, to one's self or another. No words, just experience. Is it torment, is it happiness or joy, is it fear or regret? Is this first time or the last time? This movie is to be cared because it is about the simple question of love, of alien contact (searching for answers to questions that have no answers), of second chances, of taking advantage of first chances, of abortion, of communicating, of consideration of another. Is there a lesson to be learned here in this movie? Or is it to be just experienced? To open up one's senses to the mysterious phenomenon as Solaris. And why is there so much controversy surrounding this movie if it is truly as terrible as some people say. The division is so deep, touching some sensitive cord, that something more than just objective, reasoned dialogue has arisen all due to a movie. It is just a movie after all isn't it?
Re: Simplicity Doesn't Automatically Mean Not Having To Think
This is actually the first formal debate I've had on the movie, and I'm definitely not on the side of the haters or the lovers. I get what the movie's saying, but if it is to be experienced, I didn't feel I had enough time to experience what Soderbergh wanted me to. If it really is about those moments, I want more of them. I want Kelvin and Rheya to have those moments, so that when Kelvin decides he wants even more than/of that, I accept it.
I've got the original film sitting here waiting for viewing, but I've also got a whole bunch of films lying around to catch up on before the end of the year. I'm hoping Solaris finds its way into my schedule this week (especially since I kind of mentioned it in my review of the remake), but if it doesn't, I'll definitely have a few reviews of films we're talking about on the other boards here (Roger Dodger and Standing in the Shadows of Motown in current release, and a few things in the archived forums as well).
Re: Re: Simplicity Doesn't Automatically Mean Not Having To Think
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Dujsik
I get what the movie's saying, but if it is to be experienced, I didn't feel I had enough time to experience what Soderbergh wanted me to. If it really is about those moments, I want more of them. I want Kelvin and Rheya to have those moments, so that when Kelvin decides he wants even more than/of that, I accept it.
In this instance, I don't know if time would heal all wounds for you, my friend. I really think if the film were any longer it would have started to lose its impact - the story, while wonderful, would have been stretched too thin. I haven't see the original either (it was just on AMC last weekend too!), so that version may show me how it would have been possible, but who knows.
