Having watched the 1972 Soviet version of this film I was curious to see how the recent American remake would compare. The most obvious difference is that this film is much shorter, cutting out most of the scenes prior to Kelvin's journey to the space station over the planet Solaris.
Set in the future psychiatrist Chris Kelvin is asked to go to the Solaris space station where something odd is happening to the crew, when he gets there things are stranger than Kelvin could have imagined; the person who'd requested him to come there has killed himself but his son is there... a son who was never taken there from Earth. The two remaining crew members are behaving very strangely. That isn't the strangest thing though, as he sleeps he dreams of his wife and when he wakes up she is there in the room with him... despite the fact that she'd committed suicide many years before. At first he believes he must be hallucinating but when he realises that she is real begins to believe the others explanation that she is a creation of the planet below.
The style of this film is very minimalist, if you like your science fiction full of giant robots or laser battles this might not be the thing for you although it you want something different; about ideas rather than action it is well worth watching. The actors did a good job and it was nice to see George Clooney in a film that was never going to be a blockbuster but who's presence will have brought in some viewers who wouldn't have thought of watching it otherwise.
Set in the future psychiatrist Chris Kelvin is asked to go to the Solaris space station where something odd is happening to the crew, when he gets there things are stranger than Kelvin could have imagined; the person who'd requested him to come there has killed himself but his son is there... a son who was never taken there from Earth. The two remaining crew members are behaving very strangely. That isn't the strangest thing though, as he sleeps he dreams of his wife and when he wakes up she is there in the room with him... despite the fact that she'd committed suicide many years before. At first he believes he must be hallucinating but when he realises that she is real begins to believe the others explanation that she is a creation of the planet below.
The style of this film is very minimalist, if you like your science fiction full of giant robots or laser battles this might not be the thing for you although it you want something different; about ideas rather than action it is well worth watching. The actors did a good job and it was nice to see George Clooney in a film that was never going to be a blockbuster but who's presence will have brought in some viewers who wouldn't have thought of watching it otherwise.