Monday, April 21, 2003

Solaris: Tarkovsky's Meditative Science Fiction Journey Andrei Tarkovsky: Solaris - Criterion Collection My head has throbbed for the past two days attempting to take in the entirety of Solaris, the monumental film by Andrei Tarkovsky. Based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Stanislaw Lem, the film moves methodically, forcing the viewer to focus attention on the details of the cinematography. Filmed in the Soviet Union in the early 1970’s, the film is shot primarily in black and white with color film used to draw attention to the storyline. A warning: This file is long and moves slowly, but is gripping with philosophical rewards (there are subtitles to the Russian script). I loved Eduard Artemyev’s sparse soundtrack of Bach layered with atmospheres provided by early analog synthesizers. I’ll gladly watch this one again. Solaris is a thinker. 11:34:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

Getting back in the swing of things After a crazy week, it was nice to have a calming weekend. We spent the time with family and the dogs.  Last night we finished watching Solaris.  I'm still trying to draw my conclusions, but overall, I enjoyed the movie.  It's entirely in Russian and although debuted in 1972, still seems current and up to date.  I will say that it is a bit long and takes a little while to hook you, but this format allows it to reveal its plot slowly, drawing you in one step at a time.  I'll expand on the review later. 12:49:12 PM    comment []  trackback []