Solaris (1972)

Only once in a blue moon does a film come along like Solaris. Or, I should say, once in a freaky psychic blue ocean. It is nearly impossible for me to talk about this film’s plot without somehow setting off a chain of events that will get you to know the ending of the film, which is probably the single greatest and most twisted and trippy and “Ha, ha!” endings since Citizen Kane. Because in both of these movies, you are captivated for the entire time. With Citizen Kane, a lot of people think that the ending is lackluster; personally, I do not, and I mention that because not a single soul could have figured that out. But with Solaris, we have what Inception was supposed to do for me. It made me feel like an idiot and clap my hands at the same dang time. And, me trying so hard not to go on another Inception rant, have to say that, while I enjoyed Inception, it didn’t make my brain melt like it did for a lot of people. When you see those final frames of Solaris, your brain just melts out of your ears. When it was done, I sat there for about a minute, just staring as the credits rolled. It has the same effect on me as a good horror film does. It blows me away. And here, it does. It lifts your brain out of your skull, and smashes it with a hammer until you feel numb for about five minutes. But it’s the kind of numb like The Sixth Sense, not like Bratz: The Movie numb. And now that I’ve name-dropped as many movies as I can in a coherent paragraph, let me talk about the plot of a movie that kicked Hot Fuzz out of my ‘Top 10’ favorite movies list. In short, Solaris is a film about Kris, a psychologist who is sent down to the distant planet ‘Solaris’ in order to help the crew of three that reside in the station, who need psychological help, claiming to have seen very strange things. So much to the point that when Kris gets there, one of the three has already committed suicide. And less than twenty-four hours after touching base on ‘Solaris’, Kris begins to see visions of a woman, who was obviously from Kris’ past. And that is all I am going to say about Solaris’ plot. And now let me begin my comparisons to a different science fiction film. Personally, Solaris might be my favorite science fiction film. If not, it’s at least the second or third, behind Stanley Kubrick’s film released 4 years before, 2001: A Space Odyssey. These two films are alike in so many ways, it is obvious that Andrei Tarkovsky, the director of this fine film, took a couple of notes while watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. These films are both slow, confusing, brilliant, is loved by anyone who loves film, and hated by anyone who watches a film like the general public does; solely to be entertained. And there is nothing wrong with it truthfully, but-let me put this test out. You get to watch one package of three movies; Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, and Titanic, or you can watch Transformers, X-Men, and Independence Day. I love all six films mentioned here, and will watch them over and over again. It’s just that the first three films listed-if these movies are your kind of movies, watch Solaris right now. If you are keener to the latter three, and there is nothing wrong with that, stay away from this film. It is two-and-a-half hours long, it is in Russian with subtitles, and it is an extremely slow-moving an atmospheric film. But it is an art film. And if you can stand subtitles, and love these kind of slow brilliant haunting films, watch this. And if not, watch Cloverfield (P.S. I LOVE CLOVERFIELD SO MUCH, it sits right below Solaris on my list, and it is an amazing popcorn sci-fi film). You’ll love it, but Solaris is not your film.
9.5/10