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Solaris
(1972),
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky, rated PG
Let us take you
with us to Solaris, planet of mystery,
embodiment of man's latent conflict with the unknown.
Man, face to face with his conscience, and with his past
  Starring:
Donatas Barionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav
Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Olga Barnet, Anotoly Solonitsyn,
Sos Sargsyan, Aleksandr Misharin
DML Rating:
★★★★★★★★☆☆
- great
"We don't want to
conquer space at all. We want to expand Earth endlessly. We
don't want other worlds; we want a mirror. We seek contact and
will never achieve it. We are in the foolish position of a man
striving for a goal he fears and doesn't want. Man needs man!" -
Dr. Snaut
Why watch this? This
poignant Soviet sci-fi classic will get you thinking, if you let
it.
Plot Summary:
Psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to a remote space station
orbiting the mysterious, sentient planet Solaris to investigate
the severe emotional breakdowns of its remaining crew. Upon
arrival, Kelvin finds the station in disarray and is confronted
by physical manifestations of his own repressed memories and
guilt, including his long-dead wife, Hari.
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Dad's Preview:
Slow-burn films like this require time to ruminate
inside the mind. I watched this initially and could only
muster, "What the heck?" After reading some articles, I
was able to grasp more in my second viewing. This film's
genius is its use of the science fiction medium as a
tool for humans to examine their own existence through
events like grief, love and emotional pain. On a space
station, an alien "presence" manifests itself as live
human creations - each pulled from a crew member's
memory: a friend, a son, a wife. The sheer thought of
this is madness to even entertain. The film does
move slowly, but it has purpose. It is a think-piece.
Appreciating a work like this is an indication that your
film knowledge is growing, becoming more complex, and
likewise, more demanding of plots that merely hint,
while allowing your intellect to fill in the gaps. |
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Vyacheslave
Tarasov; Mosfilm |
