SOLARIS (2002)
Released: November 27, 2002
Gotta give director Steven Soderbergh credit: He churns out movies in a super fast manner yet they are all pretty much very good. His other movie from 2002, "Full Frontal", was a low budget affair but he just recently directed "Erin Brockovich", "Ocean's Eleven", "Traffic", "The Limey", "Out Of Sight" plus exec produced "Insomnia" with George Clooney. In other words, he can be trusted to put out good stuff. With "Solaris", Soderbergh is joined by producer James Cameron to create an American remake of the Polish novel by Stanislaw Lem and 1972 Russian film by Andrei Tarkovsky. Like another Steven's recent "thoughtful" movie, Spielberg's "A.I., "Solaris" is not the typical sci-fi/action fare audiences might expect based on the trailers. They show any and all action bits, which are few. What the audience does get though, is creative and daring for an American film. It's only 99 minutes, about half the length of the 1972 original, which seems like less of a chore to watch but viewers beware - this is NOT an easy movie to watch. This story goes like this: Upon arrival at the space station orbiting an ocean world called Solaris a psychologist (George Clooney) discovers that the commander of an expedition to the planet has died mysteriously. Other strange events soon start happening as well, such as the appearance of old acquaintances of the crew, including some who are dead. Clooney's character is greeted by his recently suicided wife played by Natascha McElhone (you may recall her from "The Truman Show" or "Ronin"). The rest of the movie deals with a premise like "A.I." does. Clooney's character KNOWS the reappearance of his dead wife is a creation of the alien/planet Solaris, yet he still feels compelled to treat her like the real person. Each crew member deals with their own lost loved one that reappears. Some deal with it well. Others kill themselves. This is not "Alien". It's not even as exciting as "2001: A Space Odyssey". For a 99 minute movie, it easily feels like 199 minutes. Yet for those than can brave the pacing and the message, which essentially deals with our close relationships with others (or something like that), then take a chance on this one. Now, just how much of Clooney's naked butt do we NEED to see in any movie? The answer is less than the two extended scenes we are offered here in "Solaris". Natascha McElhone is naked too, yet not visibly on camera. If you have McElhone in your movie and Clooney allows his butt to be seen then why not have her show some ass too? Is that too much to ask? Finally, I wonder when James Cameron is gonna give us a new movie that isn't merely produced but directed. He can't just do Discovery Channel specials and produce forever can he? I guess making the most popular and highest grossing movie of all time allows some leverage before requiring a new movie...
99 Minutes
20th Century Fox