Reviews

Lovely cinematography, but really loopy writing. The parts of the disjointed exposition are gradually tied together, but the astronaut's mission gets lost in the human emotional drama. The second half felt kind of improvised. The atmospheric score (more sounds than music really) was great, and I probably would have stopped watching the movie if not for that.

There are a number of good things about this movie, but ultimately it felt to me like a lost opportunity. It raised provocative psychological issues but never carried me away or led me to anything like an epiphany. In the latter half, I was in fact a bit bored. It certainly isn't enthralling like Tarkovsky's version. Rheya's character is better developed, particularly her own psychological trauma in being a "creation" (Tarkovsky's Rheya was something of a naif in comparison). But what I missed from Tarkovsky's version is the sense of humor (this one is stiflingly earnest) and the evocative and poignant use of Bach chorales in the soundtrack. The soundtrack to this one is intriguing (a la Brian Eno, Ligeti, and Thomas Newman's scores for The Player and American Beauty), but I eventually found myself desperately longing for a cadence. Lacking the feeling of redemption communicated musically in Tarkovsky's version, this one had to rely on ham-handed statements of fact. And finally, I can't help remarking that neither Tarkovsky nor Soderbergh really convey the element of shame and sexual deviance that played such an important part in Lem's original. Both place the emphasis instead on guilt, which isn't quite the same thing, is it?

One of my 10 favorite films. An aimless, fantastical collection of site gags and non-sequiturs, punctuated by verbal graffiti in the comments of onlookers. What makes it so great is the charming spirit of youthful innocence throughout and the captivating soundtrack.