Solaris -1972
Director
Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers
Stanislaw Lem – Novel
Fridrikh Gorenshtein – Screenplay

Starring
Natalya Bondarchuk
Donatas Banionis
Juri Jarvet
Vladislav Dvorzhetsky
Nikolai Grinko, Anatoli Solonitsyn

Review by Noel Baily

Be aware, SOLARIS transmits on a strictly limited wavelength!

If, like many others you fell asleep during this movie, then my friend you were never really AWAKE.
It IS a masterpiece, but if you cannot SEE that, there is less than no purpose in dialoguing with you. I realise that sounds horrendously condescending – perhaps it is meant to be. The fact is though, exactly like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, not ONE of the 169 minutes is wasted. In fact Soderberg’s 2002 remake SUFFERS from its very brevity. It is not BETTER than 2001 it is not inferior……it is simply a film without equal by virtue of its inexhaustibly contemplative issues.

SOLARIS takes place in your mind, just like Chris Kelvin’s. It is a building process, a challenge to your very awareness. An epic work of cerebral and cinematic brilliance.