Solaris Movie Review 1972

With this the USSR tried to eclipse "2001: A Space Odyssey" in terms of cerebral science-fiction. Some critics thought they succeeded. You may disagree now that the lumbering effort is available on tape. Adapted from a Stanislaw Lem novel, it depicts a dilapidated space lab orbiting the planet Solaris, whose ocean, a vast fluid "brain," materializes the stir-crazy cosmonauts' obsessions--usually morose ex-girlfriends. Talk, talk, talk, minimal special effects. In Russian with English subtitles. In a two-cassette package, with a letterbox format preserving Tarkovsky's widescreen compositions.

Distribution

Facets Multimedia, Inc., 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, Phone: (773)281-9075, Toll-free: 800-331-6197, Fax: (773)929-5437, Email: sales@facets.org, URL: http://www.facets.org

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 167 minutes.
Originally from Russian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Sci Fi, Sanity Check, Space Operas

Screenplay

Andrei Tarkovsky

Cast

Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Juri Jarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Anatoli (Otto) Solonitzin, Sos Sarkisyan

Cinematography

Vadim Yusov

Director

Andrei Tarkovsky

Music

Eduard Artemyev

Awards

Cannes 1972: Grand Jury Prize.