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Solyaris (1972)

Director:
Andrei Tarkovsky
COUNTRY
USSR
GENRE
Drama/Science Fiction
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Solaris
RUNNING TIME
168 minutes
Producer:
Viacheslav Tarasov
Screenwriter (based on a book by Stanislaw Lem):
Andrei Tarkovsky
Fridrikh Gorenshtein


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Hari Natalya Bondarchuk
Kris Kelvin Donatas Banionis ½
Dr. Snaut Jüri Järvet ½
Dr. Sartorius Anatoli Solonitsyn ½
Henri Berton Vladislav Dvorzhetsky
Kelvin's Father Nikolai Grinko
Kelvin's Mother Olga Barnet

 

Review

Andrei Tarkovsky's cold, atmospheric science fiction takes us out of our current worldview like few other films have been able to. It is a futuristic film, more in tone and realm than in sets and gadgets. As portrayed by Tarkovsky, even a conventional wood-house by a lake seems otherworldly. Unfortunately, the Russian filmmaker isn't quite able to communicate the alienation and potentially unfathomable disparity between our human lifeform and the forces our protagonist is up against as strongly and evocatively as one would want. Tarkovsky is deeply fascinated by the existential and ethical aspects of the story, but he doesn't exploit Lem's alluring basis extensively enough. And it is not the indirect narrative style or the long takes which are the problem, but rather the thematic issues the Soviet filmmaker chooses to highlight. The result is a deep and rich film with an eerie atmosphere which doesn't quite deliver on a cerebral level.

Copyright © 7.10.2008 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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