He was raised as a roman catholic, but later would turn from. Kelvin travels to solaris only to find that the planets mysterious ocean has begun bringing to life precise duplicates of figures from the deepest recesses of the scientists minds. Solaris 02 has a quicker pace and a streamlined storytelling but maintains the feeling and themes of the original. Kris kelvin is a solarist, a scientist who studies the planet solaris, and his specialty is psychology. Kris kelvin, our hero, gets in a cramped rocket and heads toward the station. Solaris is routinely called tarkovskys reply to kubricks 2001, and indeed tarkovsky could have seen the kubrick film at the 1969 moscow film festival, but the film is based on a 1961 novel by the polish science fiction writer stanislaw lem. Like solaris, i didnt think much was achieved buy laying out an interesting, but unsatisfying tale. Solaris stars george clooney as chris kelvin, a psychologist still mourning. Tarkovskys experiments with pacing, to find time within time, as he put it, have his camera track up to the sleeping kris. He is obviously very proud to feature in the same collection as alastair reynolds, peter f.
Just as with tarkovskys version, this one changes a great deal of the source novel, but remains faithful to its central core. Unfortunately, if solaris is all you read or see youre missing the humor. With george clooney, natascha mcelhone, ulrich tukur, viola davis. Its often said theyre too long, but thats missing the point. Ive read other books by lem, the invincible comes to mind. As it is, solaris is far from the best of lems work. The book covers a broad range of solaris system administration topics such as managing user accounts, diskless clients, booting a system, using the service management facility smf, and managing software and patches. Dec 12, 2002 solaris was the kind of movie that has more questions at the end than the beginning, whereas fight club ends with the questions resolved. Those of you who say youre not interested are missing out on the work of one of the greatest speculative fiction writers of the twentieth century, and one of the funniest. Finally, the novel and movie explore different themes.
Science fiction, or scifi, is a story that draws on imagined scientific advances for its themes and plot. Solaris is beautifully written, and the message behind the book is chilling if not darn those coercive, psychic ocean mind waves. Clarkes, to create believable accounts of futuristic technology, but the books central. But like a leone movie you just have to let the director tell his story.
Winner of the grand jury prize at the 1972 cannes film festival, solaris was. I come to this analysis without the benefit and perhaps baggage of having read the stanislaw lem story by the same name. It is based on the 1961 science fiction novel of the same name by polish writer stanislaw lem reflecting on andrei tarkovskys critically acclaimed 1972 film solaris which. The original version of solaris is like being in a novel or a. Tarkovsky apparently despised kubircks film for various reasons, as tarkovsky felt that 2001 was ultimately cold and sterile lopate. Watching this 166minute work is like catching a fever, with night sweats and eventual cooling brow.
This 2002 remake of andrei tarkovskys solaris manages to be far less ambitious and goes straight to the point. I thought it was a good take on the classic film, but it doesnt have the epic. The character has the same name in both the book and the movie. When kris kelvin arrives at the planet solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface he is forced to confront a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the physical likeness of a longdead lover. A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane. I havent seen either movie solaris, so i was not influenced by them. In this manner the film also bears similarity to 2001 along w visual style. Whats the difference between solaris the book and solaris the movie. Andrei tarkovsky considered this particular episode to be. Despite work, an appalling lack of sleep, work, life, work, copious amounts of laundry, work, and more work, i finally finished this little gem of a book. To an extent perhaps either somewhat small or even somewhat large, tarkovskys 1972 science fiction opus solaris is a response to kubricks science fiction masterpiece 2001. When kris kelvin arrives at the planet solaris to study the ocean that covers its.
Stanislaw lem novel, fridrikh gorenshteyn screenplay, andrei tarkovsky screenplay. And that brings me to the lines above, quotes from steven soderberghs. The pacing is hard for 20 audiences and was at release as well. During its days of production, tarkovsky used to ask his cast and crew what they thought was the most important episode in the film. Kelvin travels to solaris, only to find that the planets mysterious ocean has begun bringing to life precise duplicates of figures from the deepest recesses of the scientists minds. Solaris tells the story of a planet that reads minds, and obliges its visitors by devising and providing people they have lost, and miss. The films of russian director andrei tarkovsky are more like environments than entertainments.
Both films involve human space journeys and encounters with a transforming alien intelligence. In this chapter, the second paragraph describes the hollywood ending of the recent soderbergh movie solaris. Soderberghs movie alters considerably the original focus of the novel. From sex, lies, and videotape to his new scifi love story, solaris, its been a rollercoaster ride for steven soderbergh. It is based on the 1961 science fiction novel of the same name by polish writer stanislaw lem.
Kris kelvin, our hero, gets in a cramped rocket and heads. The catch22 is that the planet knows no more than its visitors know about these absent people. Solaris is set in a future time of interplanetary travel. As the film opens, two astronauts have died in a space station circling the planet, and the survivors have sent back alarming messages. Solaris is a 1972 soviet science fiction art film adaptation of polish author stanislaw lems novel solaris. And these two films more than any of the lowkey, arthouse movies and. A team of human scientists is probing and examining the oceanic surface of the planet solaris from a hovering research station. The final step in my i book, ii film of the book and iii remake of the film of the book trilogy.
The classic scifi novel now a major hollywood movie starring george clooney and directed by the academy awardwinning steven soderbergh. So the film and the novel part ways here at this exact moment. A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet. Solaris is a 1961 philosophical science fiction novel by polish writer stanislaw lem. Kelvin learns that he is not alone in this and that other crews e. The otherwise great russian directors adaptation of stanislaw lems novel is ponderous, unengaging and, at 165 minutes, far too long. In short, solaris is not just one book in which not much happens. Ground control has been receiving mysterious transmissions from the three remaining residents of the solaris space station. Solaris is a 2002 american science fiction drama film written and directed by steven soderbergh, produced by james. Both the original polish version of the novel published in 1961 and its english translation are titled solaris.
The tools are just one small example, a little plot hole to look at while you fall into the bigger ones. When cosmonaut and psychologist kris kelvin is dispatched to investigate, he experiences the same strange phenomena that afflict the solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his consciousness. Just as with tarkovskys version, this one changes a great deal of the source novel, but remains faithful to. Jan 19, 2003 the films of russian director andrei tarkovsky are more like environments than entertainments. Soderbergh is great, and his solaris is a fine movie, but tarkovskys is top 10 of all time material. The electronic music score was performed by eduard artemyev. Oct 01, 2012 pirater, helikoptere og flugt gennem afrika. In lems novel, solaris, and its alien nature and purpose, the difficulties of.
What would happen, lem asks, if an encounter with intelligent alien life took place on a biological level beyond our comprehension. A plot point that got lost in the adaptation is that solaris, the oceanplanet is intelligent and may in fact try to communicate with the scientists by the use of those phantoms. Solaris by stanislaw lem solaris is a wonderful book, about a few scientists on a lab hovering over a vast, mysterious ocean on an alien planet. Solaris is lems most famous work, and an excellent startingpoint for readers who want to make the acquaintance of this seminal writer. Solaris was the kind of movie that has more questions at the end than the beginning, whereas fight club ends with the questions resolved. Sep 30, 2018 during its days of production, tarkovsky used to ask his cast and crew what they thought was the most important episode in the film. Solyaris is a 1972 soviet science fiction art film based on stanislaw lems novel of the same name published in 1961. Foreign language adaptations are nothing new, but a film on the level and. Solaris 1972 allmovie movies and films database movie. Steven soderbergh when psychologist kris kelvin arrives at the planet solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds himself confronting a painful memory embodied in the physical likeness of a past lover. Solaris helped initiate a genre that has become an arthouse staple. With natalya bondarchuk, donatas banionis, juri jarvet, vladislav dvorzhetskiy. Ill end up on a note on the book movie differences. Star wars, star trek, and some other thing that starts with star.
Its central theme is the complete failure of human beings to understand an. When he allows a sequence to continue for what seems like an unreasonable length, we have a choice. Solaris the artificial intelligence solaris was wrested into being during the first age of heroes, the time of kalel whom is known in the 853rd century as superman prime. Based on a novel by stanislaw lem, solaris centers on widowed psychologist. Solaris is a haunting, meditative film that uses scifi to raise complex questions about humanity and existence. The book of laughter and forgetting kunzru, hari gods without men lafferty, r. The novel also includes a lot of kelvin summarizing scientific books about solaris, all of which say that scientists dont know anything about solaris. Stanislaw lemor steven soderbergh, solaris the anatomy lesson.
I liked the soderberg remake of the movie most, then the book, and last the. Nov 22, 2002 solaris tells the story of a planet that reads minds, and obliges its visitors by devising and providing people they have lost, and miss. The opening of lems bestknown novel, solaris, illustrates his capacity, reminiscent of arthur c. Steven soderberghs solaris 2002 is a challenging film. Although the pace is slow, the struggle of the three surviving investigators on a station hanging over a planet with what seems to be a sentient ocean, to communicate with. Stanislav lems book solaris is one of relatively few sf novels to address total failure to comprehend a nonhuman culture, and this rendering of the book does it justice. With the book, lem attempts to craft a truly alien culture, with the planet solaris seeming to be a massive, sentient organism in its own right with thought processes and modes of communication and expression that perpetually boggle human researchers. He uses length and depth to slow us down, to edge us out of the velocity of our lives, to enter a zone of reverie and meditation. Solaris 2012 sparede ikke pa noget og det gjorde deltagerne heller ikke. The pacing could be tough for some people, and thats understandable, but if you can get into it and just let yourself get swept up into it its one of the most incredible moviewatching experiences in the history of film.
The film was cowritten and directed by andrei tarkovsky, and stars donatas banionis and natalya bondarchuk. Soderbergh has managed to leave out just about everything that could justify the title as lem himself put it, if he had set out to write a book about space romance. He was jewish, but he and his parents were able to survive the nazi occupation during world war ii by using falsified documents. It is obviously filled with meaning, perhaps of the same sort as the movie or perhaps completely different. When he allows a sequence to continue for what seems like an unreasonable. Theres something about this movie, i just cant put my finger on it.
With solaris, despite not having star in its title, were definitely in science fiction land because it features space travel, distant planets, alien life, and psychic whozits. This article is a critical analysis of the year 2002 movie solaris. Solaris is a 2002 american science fiction drama film written and directed by steven soderbergh, produced by james cameron and jon landau, and starring george clooney and natascha mcelhone. Overall, its analysis of explorationashumannature was tremendous and leaves you with the sort of wonder produced by only the best science fiction. A plot point that got lost in the adaptation is that solaris, the oceanplanet is intelligent and may in fact try to communicate with the. Based on a novel by stanislaw lem, solaris centers on widowed psychologist kris kelvin donata banionis, who is sent to a space station orbiting a waterdominated planet called solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number of cosmonauts on the station. A space odyssey tarkovsky apparently despised kubircks film for various reasons, as tarkovsky felt that 2001 was ultimately cold and sterile lopate. This book is for anyone who is responsible for administering one or more systems that run the oracle solaris operating system os.
Its central theme is the complete failure of human beings to understand an extraterrestrial intelligence. This movie, in russian, with subtitles, is different from the american version, and has a bit more explanation of what happens on solaris. The pacing could be tough for some people, and thats understandable, but if you can get into it and just let yourself get swept up into it its one of the most incredible movie watching experiences in the history of film. The main reason i choice this book as my old school friend richard salter had become a writer and by most accounts his current best piece of work could be found in solaris rising.
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