Solaris
“Ivan’s Childhood”, “Andrei Rublev”, “The Mirror”, “Nostalghia”, “The Sacrifice” – Tarkovsky only made 5 other feature-length films I have not seen yet; also, only one of them is under 100 minutes and most are significantly longer. It suits Tarkovksy to make only a few films, and the description of every one of them sounds extremely intriguing.
In comparison, though, I find it hard to like another Tarkovsky film as much as “Stalker”, considering how incredibly impressed I was by it. “Stalker” had a cinematography I have never seen before, it had a smart story and with only three characters, it felt almost like a theater play, except a theater play could never achieve such a haunting atmosphere. Tarkovsky makes films like I have never seen before, and with that in mind, I keep perceiving “Solaris” as a film that is a lot like “Stalker”, but without blowing my mind as much.
I heard of “Solaris” a long time ago, I think the remake was showing on TV around the time I started watching films, which must have been 2006. Ever since, I have been mildly interested in both adaptations of Lem’s novel, even though I knew that they would deviate from the original, just like “Stalker” deviated a lot from “Roadside Picnic”. My interest was not totally unfounded, throughout the film, even though it only happened in later parts of it, I have become increasingly interested in Hari and her feelings, which is even further complicated due to the fact that she is some means of communication with this sentient alien life form. The desire for past times, unlike in “Midnight in Paris”, is not merely romantic nostalgia here, it’s a symptom of human suffering, perhaps one of the deepest possible. Not to be able to let go from something that happened in your past, and the element of having your feelings being manipulated and threatened by an alien, it all makes the premise of the film extremely interesting. However, besides the troubled love between Kris and Hari, the film was surprisingly lacking feeling, for me at least.
In typical Tarkovsky fashion, “Solaris” was incredibly stylish, of course. I liked the music, the white interior of the almost Apple-like spaceship and there were a few scenes which gave me the chills. For instance, the scene where Kris and Hari looked at historical artwork was quite beautiful. I also read that “Kontroll” was inspired by “Solaris”. It doesn’t surprise me too much, and oh wow, it makes me want to re-watch “Kontroll”, a film from my youth. That is nostalgy.