Not my favourite of Tarkovsky's work(Andrei Rublev) and like I said with Stalker not his most accessible(Ivan's Childhood). It is very long, quite talky and requires a lot of patience, sure almost all of Tarkovsky's film, apart from Ivan's Childhood, are paced very deliberately but Solaris is the only one with a first twenty minutes that puts you off seeing more.
However, Solaris is a fine film indeed from a remarkably consistent director(one of the few who didn't make a bad film) and is an important one by his standards and for the sci-fi genre. Tarkovsky's direction is typically superb and it's visually striking, not as dream-like as say Mirror but it's beautifully shot and has a hypnotic quality that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, providing that you're in the right mood or if it's your thing. The music score is both menacing and melancholic and compliments the mood incredibly effectively, one of the better scores of Tarkovsky's films. As ever with Tarkovsky, the writing is very thoughtful in a philosophical way(the most philosophical Tarkovsky film) and the story is one where it starts off very slow but once you stick with it it's very rewarding. Didn't have any real trouble with following it, though it is understandable it wouldn't work for people as it didn't quite click with me first time watching it(I still appreciated what the film was trying to do though).
Most effective was how amazingly Solaris worked as a mood-piece. It may not be the most powerful(Andrei Rublev) or personal(Mirror) Tarkovsky film, but it was still powerful stuff, almost as suspenseful as Stalker and had a lot of emotional impact. The ending was spine-chilling, even people I know who dislike it said that they were bowled over by the ending. The acting is fine especially with the heart-wrenching performance of Natalya Bondarchuk. Overall, a fine and influential film but it is one of those films that will captivate viewers and frustrate others. 9/10 Bethany Cox
However, Solaris is a fine film indeed from a remarkably consistent director(one of the few who didn't make a bad film) and is an important one by his standards and for the sci-fi genre. Tarkovsky's direction is typically superb and it's visually striking, not as dream-like as say Mirror but it's beautifully shot and has a hypnotic quality that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, providing that you're in the right mood or if it's your thing. The music score is both menacing and melancholic and compliments the mood incredibly effectively, one of the better scores of Tarkovsky's films. As ever with Tarkovsky, the writing is very thoughtful in a philosophical way(the most philosophical Tarkovsky film) and the story is one where it starts off very slow but once you stick with it it's very rewarding. Didn't have any real trouble with following it, though it is understandable it wouldn't work for people as it didn't quite click with me first time watching it(I still appreciated what the film was trying to do though).
Most effective was how amazingly Solaris worked as a mood-piece. It may not be the most powerful(Andrei Rublev) or personal(Mirror) Tarkovsky film, but it was still powerful stuff, almost as suspenseful as Stalker and had a lot of emotional impact. The ending was spine-chilling, even people I know who dislike it said that they were bowled over by the ending. The acting is fine especially with the heart-wrenching performance of Natalya Bondarchuk. Overall, a fine and influential film but it is one of those films that will captivate viewers and frustrate others. 9/10 Bethany Cox