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Solaris (re-release)
Kino International

8.8 based on 8 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 15 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

FILM:

• Metacritic: Soderbergh's Solaris

• Internet Movie Database
• Film Forum Profile

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, and Anatoli Solonitsyn

Based on Stanislaw Lem's novel, this 1972 allegory takes place on a space station near a mysterious planet.

GENRE(S):	Sci-fi
WRITTEN BY:	Andrei Tarkovsky Fridrikh Gorenshtein Stanislaw Lem (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Andrei Tarkovsky
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 26, 2002  Video: August 29, 1995  Theatrical: October 18, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	165 minutes, Color / BW
ORIGIN:	Soviet Union
LANGUAGE(S):	Russian (with English subtitles)

Winner, Special Jury Prize, 1972 Cannes Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A dazzlingly imaginative work with awesome production values and special effects that bear comparison to those of "2001."

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

An amazing celluloid poem by a filmmaker whom Ingmar Bergman called "the greatest." He very nearly was. He was also, perhaps, too pure a creator and reckless a citizen to survive unscathed.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Stands with the greatest science-fiction movies ever made.

90

Washington Post Desson Thomson

His (Tarkovsky's) pictures, and his sounds -- such as the symphonic drip of raindrops in a wooded pond -- tell more than just the immediate story; they rejuvenate the mind.

90

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Tarkovsky's eerie mystic parable is given substance by the filmmaker's boldly original grasp of film language and the remarkable performances by all the principals.

88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Routinely called Tarkovsky's reply to Kubrick's "2001" -- But Kubrick's film is outward, charting man's next step in the universe, while Tarkovsky's is inward, asking about the nature and reality of the human personality.

80

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Slow, but ravishingly beautiful and charged with a real poignancy.

70

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The most pop film the great Russian filmmaker ever made.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

dave z gave it a10:
I was unemployed the 1st winter after graduating college and decided to watch foreign films to see the difference. The standard by which I rate films is strongly influenced by masterpieces such as "Solaris." Do yourself a favor... don't watch the American remake of this film (it does this film no justice at all... would you watch a remake of star wars by any other director than Lucas?). See the original and let yourself open up to a movie that although slow, is paced for you to contemplate rather than merely watch. Would I watch it again? Only if showing it to someone who has been blinded by the myriad amounts of garbage that is mass produced by Hollywood for the insatiable appetite of American dvd junkies. (sorry, the movie is a little long like my explanation of it).

Alexey gave it a9:
Tarkovsky's Solaris is a great movie, the only problematic thing is first 3rd of it, that is a bit difficult to get into. That's why DVD is so great, you can scroll through it. And later watch the whole thing, because all of tarkovsky's films should be watched more then once.

Gilbert Mulroneycakes Apologises To A Nation In Shock gave it an 8:
Oh. I'm sorry, I seem to have buggerarse twatted the display. I do apologise, especially if there turns out to be no way to get rid of the damn thing. [Ed: Ahhh... didn't noticed, but fixed now.]

Yoon C. gave it a 9:
Strangely, this sci-fi film works best when it takes place on Earth but then Tarkovsky was always an earthy(and earthbound)director. In the opening scene, Tarkovsky renders our world with its plants and water alien, strange, otherwordly. He gazes upon our 'normal' world with a contemplative mood, as though perceiving sound and scenery with a sixth sense. The effect is both awesome and poetic. Our planet becomes an alien planet. Once in space, the movie slowly bogs down into discourse on Russian mysticism in the sterile and futuristic setting of the spacecraft; the effect is confusing and confused, which may explain why neither Tarkovsky nor Lem was happy with the result. Still, the movie is mesmerizing throughout with many hypnotic trance-like moments as when lovers drift in the air for a brief duration in zero gravity or when the replica of the hero's dead wife stares at a painting and explores its illustrations as dream imagery. The film offers many perspectives, some divergent and some intersecting, suggesting that everything is alien, a mystery, that we are enigmas unto ourselves, and that what we consider truth is at best a mirror reflection of our egos projected onto the infinite plane of the universe both within and without us.

Nelson D. gave it an 8:
Arenas needed to make money and impress Vivendi on this one. They sure did, and Blades/Leguizamo/Sonia Braga/Rossellini is a powerful package for international markets. Critics aside, the film had a clear mark, and hit it. I enjoyed this flick...and love the soundtrack!

Donald W. gave it a 7:
Slow and ponderous at times, but beautiful to watch. Would be severely edited and shortened today. English titles are sometimes sketchy. Not for the mainstream viewer.

Yon L. gave it a 6:
Stanislaw Lem hated the film version, probably because he was afraid people would see it and think that he wrote a line like "I love you more than any scientific truth".

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