Solaris
01/09/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Video: 20th Century Fox 24283S. 94 minutes. Price: £10.99 (UK). Stars: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis and Ulrich Tukur. Over the years, I’ve seen the Russian film and read
the book. With the former, it must have been youth and the difference
in body language that tended to make me wonder what was going
on. Russian actors looking blandly into the camera as if it
meant something was kinda lost on me.
The book was much better and this isn’t a bad film adaptation.
If anything, ‘Solaris’ should really be regarded as a true SF
film in the 2001 mode. No funny aliens speaking perfect English
with similar cultures. No cowboy SF with pop guns. If this film
was released 20 years ago it would be considered more an arts
than an SF film.
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
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