Four out of
five stars
Running time: 94 mins
Thoughtful, moving, impressively-directed sci-fi with a great performance by
Clooney – the pace may be off-putting but this is a deeply rewarding film.
Steven Soderbergh’s remake of Solaris died a
death in the States after a misleading ad campaign led viewers to expect a
fast-moving ‘love-story in space’ kind of thing. After all, it had James
‘Titanic’ Cameron’s name on it (he’s the producer) – surely it was bound to
be an action-packed effects bonanza? Things got worse when a fuss was made
over whether Clooney’s two “naked arse” scenes would affect the film’s
rating, in what was widely seen as a desperate attempt to drum up interest
in the film.
Now that the film has finally arrived in Europe, however, both Clooney and
Soderbergh are tirelessly treading the publicity trail and –rightfully-
pointing out that Solaris is as far from the typical Hollywood blockbuster
as it’s possible to get. Seeing the film less as a remake of Tarkovsky’s
1972 two and a half hour epic masterpiece (frequently referred to as the
‘Russian 2001’) and more as a re-interpretation of Stanislaw Lem’s original
novel, Soderbergh has delivered a film that is thoughtful, moving and
breath-taking to look at, with an impressive performance by Clooney.
Not-Too-Distant Future
The film is set in the not-too-distant future. George Clooney plays
psychologist Chris Kelvin, who has recently lost his wife Rheya, played by
Natascha McElhone. He is sent to investigate Prometheus, a space station
orbiting the planet Solaris. When he arrives, he discovers that one of the
crew has committed suicide and that the others are paranoid and afraid. He
is also somewhat surprised to find that his wife is there too…
On a purely technical level, the film is astonishing. Soderbergh wrote,
directed, edited and shot the film himself and it contains sequences that
are nothing short of breath-taking, such as the docking sequence near the
beginning. Appropriately, there are several nods to 2001 in both the set
design and the general feel of the film. The effects, though used sparingly,
are impressive here too, particularly the shots of Solaris itself.
Ocean’s 11 In Space?
Clooney is excellent, foregoing his usual charming, wise-cracking persona
(‘Ocean’s 11 In Space’ this isn’t) and instead delivering a haunted, complex
performance. McElhone too gives perhaps her best performance to date (though
this isn’t hard) – she has a slightly sort of blank other-wordly stare that
actually adds to her role here.
There’s able support too from both Viola Davis and Jeremy Davies, whose
performance is irritatingly mannered, yet ultimately impressive.
The film is extremely slow-moving – it’s odd that a 94 minute remake can
seem as long as the 165 minute original – but, though it may be off-putting
to certain sections of the audience, the pacing is integral to the
dream-like atmosphere of the film. Again, this is something it shares with
2001. The film also has an excellent soundtrack that makes great use of
silence or background machine noise, as well as a sparingly-used, electronic
score by Cliff Martinez.
Ultimately, this is a moving meditation on love, loss, pain and grief. It
looks fantastic, is well-acted and will send you out of the cinema with
something to think about. And, oh yes, the famous “arse shots” – they’re
present and correct, if almost entirely gratuitous...