My Imdb Review Of Solaris
I loved the challenge of this movie, and since I just wrote the following review and posted it at IMDB.COM last night, it speaks for how I feel about this film:
THE BOUNDARIES OF LOVE?
Why is it that intelligent domestic films with a European sensibility so often fail with American audiences? The answer obviously lies in our society's apparent need to dismiss any thought-provoking film's ability to entertain, and Steven Soderberg's Solaris is one such effort.
My enjoyment of this 99 minutes of superb cinema lies in its living, breathing organic structure that mirrors the passion and unpredictability of true love. This film intends to appeal to an audience's sense of exploration and emotion on many levels, and not necessarily in one viewing. Immediate comparisons that come to mind are Ridley Scott's `Blade Runner', Steven Spielberg's `Minority Report' – even touches of director Nicolas Roeg's early works are present in the sometimes non-linear, flashback storytelling structure.
The ensemble casting and acting is fine throughout, particularly Viola Davis' sure portrayal of Helen Gordon, which brought to mind Sigourney Weaver's raw, emotional Ellen Ripley in 1979's `Alien'. The entire cast interacts with a sense as instinctual as a relay team passing a hand baton.
George Clooney's Chris Kelvin feels completely authentic, and his true believability and sense of emotional depth are at the core of what makes Solaris work. His other half in this worldly examination of love – actress Natascha McElhone - is perfectly cast as wife Rheaya Kelvin. Their chemistry facilitates the audience's need to believe in the intimacy of their relationship. The story cannot work without believing in this marriage, and the scenes that establish the union are truly naturalistic, almost voyeuristic in execution.
Solaris is forward thinking in everything it explores – Soderberg confidently tells this story with a knowing that audiences will catch up with his total senses storytelling style – if not now, certainly at some point in the not so distant future.
I will be posting other comments original to this site -- I was invited here by someone who read the review at the "other" site...thanks and I'm glad to find this great site!
