Ground control has been receiving mysterious transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is dispatched to investigate, he experiences the same strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his consciousness. With “Solaris,” the legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky created a brilliantly original science-fiction epic that challenges our conceptions about love, truth, and humanity itself. Critic Philip Lopate writes: “We know that Tarkovsky had seen Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968) and disliked it as cold and sterile. Still, hindsight allows us to observe that the two masterworks are more cousins than opposites. Both set up their narratives in a leisurely, languid manner, spending considerable time tracking around the space sets; both employ a widescreen mise-en-scène approach that draws on superior art direction; and both generate an air of mystery that invites countless explanations.”

Intro and discussion by Robert Garrick, attorney, former contributor to the davekehr.com film blog, and contributor to Cinema St. Louis’ The Lens film blog.

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