02/21/10 - Solyaris (Solaris)

Solyaris (Solaris) (1972, 165 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069293/

Solaris gets the distinction of being the 200th different movie seen since I started rating what I saw in the beginning of 2009. Hooray films! Naturally, I wanted to pick a "classic" for this so I selected the Russian Solyaris.

The film stars Donatas Banionis as Kris Kelvin, a psychologist sent to investigate the crew of a space station orbiting the strange ocean planet of Solaris. The crew already there are: Dr. Snaut (Jüri Järvet), Dr. Sartorius (Anatoli Solonitsyn), and the (as Kelvin discovers) deceased Dr. Gibarian (Sos Sargsyan). Natalya Bonddarchuk plays Hari, Kelvin's deceased wife and created "thing" from the odd planet of Solaris.

First and foremost, this movie is weird. Apparently it's based off a book (the author didn't really like the movie), but the oddness of a planet that taps into the scientists' minds in order to create spectres or whatever is just really out there. Sometimes they try and explain what's going on with 1970s science and that's fun, but for the most part they just let it go as unexplainable which is better in my opinion. The movie is one of those that more asks questions than answers them so the science and explanation is better left out in my opinion. I feel the strangeness of this planet wasn't as explored as it could have been though. While I'm fine with the little explanations given, maybe more focus on the planet as an entity or a "character" in the movie would have been better. Instead, we just get a few scenes of the sprawling and endless ocean.

As is typical with movies where I must rely on the subtitles, I can't say much about the acting here, so instead I'll focus on the characters. The main interplay is between Kelvin and Hari and how they relate to each other, even with both knowing that Hari isn't a real human being. Obviously this question of love when both parties know the truth is at the crux of Solaris. Is it handled well? I feel it is for the most part. In what seems to be typical Russian fashion we get a few scenes where philosophy and this question is directly addressed. I felt I missed out here when I had to focus on the subtitles and read what was going on as opposed to hearing what was saying (though I hate dubs so I wouldn't really want to watch that). I don't know why this seemed to be a special problem for this movie; maybe it was the long length. In any case, I liked how this central question was addressed. The figures gave varying opinions and each were good so it allowed the viewer to decide.

I feel Solaris will be a movie that will fester inside of me and I'll want to watch again at a later date. Like Mulholland Dr. of last month it's making me think. I figure I'll check out the new version with George Clooney as well to see how it compares, even if I haven't heard many good things.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. Though, just like Mulholland Dr. I'm torn between this and an 8/10. Solaris compares very much to 2001: A Space Odyssey (even though the director Tarkovsky claims he hadn't seen it when he made this) and I gave that an 8/10. A question is raised and it's handled in somewhat similar fashion. Maybe it's that some of the aspects of the film were lost in not understanding Russian culture and it hurts my viewing of the film.