Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky was one of the greatest of all 20th Century directors and his Solaris (1972) is a genuine science-fiction masterpiece. Solaris was made in the early 1970s in the shadow of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – it was even nicknamed “the Russian 2001.” Both 2001 and Solaris are films that reach toward the vast and transcendental. Yet, where 2001 has human form evolving beyond a cold technological future to become an enigmatic creature of the stars, Solaris travels in opposite directions as the transcendental envelops its hero in sentimental images of his past. With its beautiful images of humanity confronting the inexplicably alien and the incredibly haunting, enigmatic final image, Solaris is a modern science-fiction classic.
This is the Hollywood remake. While most Hollywood remakes of foreign-language films end up being crass, there was some hope in that the Solaris(2002) remake was handled by no less than Steven Soderbergh. Steven Soderbergh is current intellectual flavour of the Hollywood mainstream. Soderbergh first emerged with the festival hit Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989). For a time after that, Soderbergh seemed like being a one-hit wonder. His subsequent films – Kafka (1991), which tried to tell a fictionalised biography of Franz Kafka as a mad scientist tale, The Underneath (1995), Gray’s Anatomy (1996) and Schizopolis (1996) – were flops. However, Soderbergh gained his second wind with the breathtakingly cool crime thriller Out of Sight (1998), which still remains his (and George Clooney’s) best film. Soderbergh went onto make The Limey (1999), and the twin breakthrough successes of Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000), which had him uniquely nominated for the Best Director Oscar twice in the same year, and the remake of Ocean’s 11 (2001) and sequels, and subsequently The Good German (2006), the Che films, The Informant (2009) and a further science-fiction film Contagion (2011). Solaris is no less than the fifth remake that Soderbergh has overseen – from directing Traffic (which was based on a British mini-series) and Ocean’s 11, to acting as producer on the American remakes of Nightwatch (1998) and Insomnia (2002). [To doubly ensure that the remake is in good hands, Solaris 2002 is produced by James Cameron, the director of films like The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009), and his Lightstorm Entertainment production company].
Solaris 2002 emerged to a mixed response. There was a deeply uncertain promotional campaign from 20th Century Fox, which downplayed the science-fiction content and seemed to be trying to sell the film as a romance. There seemed to be some behind-the-scenes friction with George Clooney appearing taciturn in interviews and reluctant to promote the film. Both critical and audience response was deeply divided, with most average cinemagoers coming out grumbling about Solaris being slow, boring and difficult to understand. In fact, more public attention seemed to focus on George Clooney’s naked butt than any of the film’s deeper philosophical issues or comparisons with the original film.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2011
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Footage by Solaris, Original Music by Cliff Martinez-First Sleep
