Solaris is a movie that audiences are either going to love or hate. Acting as the director, cinematographer and writer, the eclectic Steven Soderbergh creates a movie about love, death and second chances.
Psychologist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) hates his life. Day after day he helps his patients overcome the grief of death but the ironic twist is, he himself has not been able to deal with the suicide of his wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone) two years earlier. One day, Kelvin gets a crazy message from an acquaintance
named Gibarian (Ulrich Tukur) who is running a mission to explore a distant planet called Solaris from a space station, Prometheus. Gibarian says he wants Kelvin to join him on the Prometheus, but never really
says why. When he arrives at the station he finds out that Gibarian is dead and only two crew members remain alive. Each of the crew members,
Snow (Jeremy Davies) and Helen Gordon (Viola Davis) are under extreme stress and seem hesitant to give Kelvin any answers.
Based on Polish writer Stanislaw Lem’s classic 1961 novel and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Soviet-made film of the book, Soderbergh does a great job at creating a movie that is fresh, unique and eye opening. The visuals are stunning from the opening shot
of a rainy futuristic earth to the dark cold space station Prometheus orbiting the bright and mysterious Solaris.
Without using his natural charisma, Clooney does a great job of carrying the film, portraying a man destroyed by grief and anguish. Using long shots and a minimal amount of dialogue, the movie can seem slow at times, but it is amazing how much is said with so little.
This is a thought-provoking film, and it will make you question your existence and how we as human beings fit into the big picture.
If you are expecting a step by
step explanation to everything,
don’t go see this movie. It’s the type
of film that leaves the viewer to
decide what actually happened in the end.
..Blair Scholefield