solaris

Solaris
$13.00
Lem is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writers of science fiction because he elevates the form into the realm of philosophy. Here, as in several other books (among them Fiasco), he asks what it might be like to encounter an alien intelligence which is so different from ours as to render true communication impossible. In Solaris, Chris Kelvin journeys to the planet Solaris where he and his crewmates encounter an alien capable of reading minds and then "bringing back" people they have known. For Kelvin, it his dead wife. There are subtle differences, however, between the alien versions and the people the astronauts once knew. Why? That question is never answered and the reader is left to conjecture, just as conjecture is all that is allowed by Lem of the alien's motives. Lem writes for people who want to think. For those who want tales with neat beginnings and endings which are sewn up tight, he is not your man.
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Solaris
$20.98
Amazing sound track for an amazing movie. Any one that likes ambient or chill out psy music this is a track for you. It captures the mysteries and essence of the movie almost as well as Vangelis does in Blade Runner.

Solaris - Criterion Collection
$39.95
When one watches the 2002 remake of the Russian epic `Solyaris' they may not necessarily see how this film could have played heavy influence in the creation of a lot of modern science fiction films, but when you watch this '72 art-house gem you can easily see how films such as `Sphere' (adapted from Michael Crichton's novel of the same name), `Event Horizon' and even 2001's extraordinary `A.I.' have drank from the sea of `Solyaris'.

I have not seen much Tarkovsky, but I am intrigued, and both films that I have seen (`Solyaris' and `Ivanovo Detstvo') are truly outstanding feats of cinema. Adapted from the novel written by Stanislaw Lem, `Solyaris' is a film about strange occurrences on a spacecraft located near an alien sea. Kris Kelvin is a psychiatrist sent to investigate a mission, interviewing the remaining three men on a spacecraft and determining whether or not the mission should be canceled. When he arrives he finds that one of the men, a former friend, has committed suicide and the other two men are slowly going insane. The reason behind this insanity is the sea itself, which causes your dreams to take physical form. This happens for Kris as well, reuniting him with his dead wife, Hari.

The film is not really a film about aliens or space.

There is a moment towards the end of `Solyaris' where Kris says that without mystery there is no truth. You really need to keep with that train of thought in order to find the truth inside of this film, for it is laced with so much mystery it becomes very confusing to one who is looking for any shred of certainty or clarification. You have to embrace the films mystery in order to appreciate the message it is trying to convey. I have made statements before, in other reviews, about the importance of embracing one's subjective view of art. `Solyaris' is the perfect example of a film with no clear meaning other than the provoking of ones intellect. This film begs you to examine, dissect and prod each scene until you find YOUR truth within the films three hours.

For me, this film is all about our desire for familiarity and the fear of change.

If you notice, when Kris arrives on the space station he is rather skeptical, and after his first encounter with the resurrected Hari he is quick to overreact and destroy her, only to have her return. After spending time with her he decides that he cannot let her go, and even refers to her as `his wife' and treats her as if she were not a mere fragment of his imagination. She is real to him and his mind will not let him comprehend the fact that she is not `real'. This deliberate denial shows that Kris is not ready to move on and face the facts that his life is different. It also shows an innate desire to rectify his past mistakes. When he relays the way in which his wife died you can see an almost guilt ridden hesitation, as if he is not willing to accept that she is really dead and is hoping her sudden return marks a chance for him to `do things right' this time. The other men on the craft are also wrapped up in their own minds, even if their situations are not fully fleshed out. It is obvious that as much as they want to leave, they don't want to leave for fear of losing all that they are experiencing. They acknowledge it is wrong, but they are unwilling to do anything about it.

The films final frame is a haunting realization that this entire film may have been nothing more than a mere illusion.

Supposedly the novel's author, Stanislaw Lem, was not impressed with the direction taken on this film, and especially not the film presented to us in 2002 (which, in my opinion too, missed the mark by relying too heavily on the romantic notions of the story). I have not read his novel so I cannot directly quote on how closely related the two are, but I can say that what Tarkovsky does here is phenomenal and truly inspiring. Some have compared this to Kubrick's `2001', but personally I mirror Tarkovsky's thoughts that `2001' was `sterile', especially when compared with this brilliant film that, for me, does everything `2001' attempted to do but couldn't quite accomplish.

And even still, this is Tarkovsky's least favorite of his directed films.

Go figure.

Stalker: A Film by Andrei Tarkovsky
$29.95
When we proselytize science fiction to our friends, this film is always among the first three we show. ;-) It's definitely one of our favorite cinema pieces of all time, even if our viewings have to be partitioned out over one or two evenings (it is rather long...). Like good science fiction, it is unconfined to the genre. In fact, it has often been the topic of theological discussion. It's one of the more beautiful and complex pieces that has been put to film. Gotta love Russian literature...