Video: 20th Century Fox 24283S. 94 minutes. Price: £10.99 (UK). Stars: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis and Ulrich Tukur.

An investigation team on a space station around the planet Solaris seems to have gone AWOL and the last message received was for Earth psychologist Chris Kelvin to be sent. This causes Earth Government to arrange for him to be sent with a reminder that a military unit will move in unless he gives the all-clear.

What he finds is the sudden materialisation of loved ones who don’t really know why they are there. In Kelvin’s case, it is the resurrection of his dead wife who had previously committed suicide.

Bringing together the puzzle of Solaris which is really a first contact situation is done with some extreme subtle direction. Even with a more American POV compared to the earlier Russian film, I doubt this is for the average non-SF film goer and likely to become a cult favourite amongst the SF purists with a remarkable performance from all the actors involved.

The special effects are more background than down your down the throat look at that. As an adaptation, director Steven Soderbergh should be commended for staying with the spirit of Stanislaw Lems’s original book and this film should be used as a reminder to other directors who tend to use SF books as a jumping off point than staying true to the source. I wish more SF films were like this.

GF Willmetts