Solaris Reviews

It seems surprising considering the fact that, even though I have seen more than 5000 movies, in all kind of different genres and era, I still haven’t watched anything directed by  Andrei Tarkovsky (I know, I’m rather ashamed but hopefully, someday, I will finally get acquainted with his work). Anyway, this movie seemed to be another misguided project for the once workaholic and now retired Steven Soderbergh. Since I’m not familiar with Tarkovsky’s work, I had no preconceived ideas before watching this flick which might explained why I actually enjoyed it when it was actually poorly received. Apparently, it was first James Cameron who was actually planning to direct this flick and he spent many years to get the rights but he was always too busy so he had to drop out.  It was already the 3rd (out of 6) movies starring George Clooney and directed by Soderbergh and, in my opinion, it was at least better than the even more underwhelming ‘The Good German’. Eventually, even though this movie didn’t get much love, I thought it was a nice SF feature with a nice slow flow and a meditative mood. To conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece (like Tarkovsky’s version, at least, according to its reputation), I thought it was a pretty cool flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

[NB mild spoiler]
Atmospheric, ominous, beautiful cinematography and music. But what's it about!?

I think you have to be able to suspend your analytical self to appreciate this film, because otherwise you get bogged down in trying to work out what's happening and why. Ultimately, I think Solaris is like a big "what if?" What if someone dead from your past could come back?

Clooney is brilliant, a completely different person from his Ocean's 11 franchise. He represents the grief of bereavement. grief that passes all understanding. This may be scifi, it may be psychological, but at the end of the day, it's about grief.