Stars: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Jüri Järvet | Written by Andrei Tarkovsky; Fridrikh Gorenshtein | Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
It’s Will Self’s favourite movie, it spawned a good remake which barely nudged the box office, and it has been described as the Soviet answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It combines the laid-back, character-based storytelling of the French New Wave with the trippy impulses of late-60s psychedelia. It is a true cult movie, one which played for decades in Soviet cinemas. But what is Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris actually like to watch? I hesitate to call it a blast – but I would call it beautiful, dense, mesmerising and moving.
On the surface, Kubrick’s 1968 film and Tarkovsky’s 1972 film couldn’t be more different in their approaches (something Tarkovsky himself was keen to point out). While 2001 looks proudly outward, Solaris delves inward, deeply and directly. But what...
It’s Will Self’s favourite movie, it spawned a good remake which barely nudged the box office, and it has been described as the Soviet answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It combines the laid-back, character-based storytelling of the French New Wave with the trippy impulses of late-60s psychedelia. It is a true cult movie, one which played for decades in Soviet cinemas. But what is Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris actually like to watch? I hesitate to call it a blast – but I would call it beautiful, dense, mesmerising and moving.
On the surface, Kubrick’s 1968 film and Tarkovsky’s 1972 film couldn’t be more different in their approaches (something Tarkovsky himself was keen to point out). While 2001 looks proudly outward, Solaris delves inward, deeply and directly. But what...
- 4/18/2017
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
(Grigori Kozintsev, 1964/ 1971, PG, Mr Bongo Films)
Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973) was a prominent figure in Soviet cinema from his late teens until his death, making ambitious political films until after the second world war when he turned to literary adaptations, concluding with his classic versions of Hamlet and King Lear. Both were shot in black-and-white and widescreen on austere Estonian locations beside the Baltic using Boris Pasternak's translations (with Shakespeare's text as subtitles) and music by Shostakovich, and they're based on years of thought and study as revealed in Kozintsev's book Shakespeare: Time and Conscience. The great Russian actor Innokenti Smoktunovsky is a forceful, sane, sensitive Hamlet trapped in a prison of political intrigue, and the film, set in a Tudor Denmark, is vigorous, intelligent and visually stunning. Lear is played by the Estonian actor Jüri Järvet (dubbed into Russian) and is truly old, mad and heartbreaking, and the picture...
Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973) was a prominent figure in Soviet cinema from his late teens until his death, making ambitious political films until after the second world war when he turned to literary adaptations, concluding with his classic versions of Hamlet and King Lear. Both were shot in black-and-white and widescreen on austere Estonian locations beside the Baltic using Boris Pasternak's translations (with Shakespeare's text as subtitles) and music by Shostakovich, and they're based on years of thought and study as revealed in Kozintsev's book Shakespeare: Time and Conscience. The great Russian actor Innokenti Smoktunovsky is a forceful, sane, sensitive Hamlet trapped in a prison of political intrigue, and the film, set in a Tudor Denmark, is vigorous, intelligent and visually stunning. Lear is played by the Estonian actor Jüri Järvet (dubbed into Russian) and is truly old, mad and heartbreaking, and the picture...
- 10/15/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Director: Andre Tarkovsky Writers: Andrei Tarkovsky and Fridrikh Gorenshtein (screenplay), Stanislav Lem (novel) Cinematographer: Vadim Yusov Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Yuri Yarvet Studio/Running Time: Criterion, 166 min. When Solaris was released in the United States at the end of 1976 critics frequently compared it with our own, somewhat more famous science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The reasoning for this is obvious: both are long, slow pictures by difficult auteurs that forsake a conventional narrative. But more than that there was also a sort of implicit competition critics brought to the movie’s interpretation as part...
- 6/1/2011
- Pastemagazine.com
Hitting movie theaters this weekend:
The Hangover Part II – Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan
Movie of the Week
The Hangover Part II
The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms
The Plot: Right after their infamous Las Vegas bachelor party, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Stu’s plan for a subdued pre-wedding brunch, however, goes seriously awry.
The Buzz: Like many wines and cheeses before him, Hangover II writer/director Todd Phillips has aged well. With Road Trip, his directorial debut, he made a film just funny enough to facilitate the production of his 2nd film, the far superior, Old School. From there Phillips helmed Starsky and Hutch, which was respected well enough, for what it was, before taking a major misstep with School for Scoundrels. Phillips bounced back big-time from his first flop,...
The Hangover Part II – Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan
Movie of the Week
The Hangover Part II
The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms
The Plot: Right after their infamous Las Vegas bachelor party, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Stu’s plan for a subdued pre-wedding brunch, however, goes seriously awry.
The Buzz: Like many wines and cheeses before him, Hangover II writer/director Todd Phillips has aged well. With Road Trip, his directorial debut, he made a film just funny enough to facilitate the production of his 2nd film, the far superior, Old School. From there Phillips helmed Starsky and Hutch, which was respected well enough, for what it was, before taking a major misstep with School for Scoundrels. Phillips bounced back big-time from his first flop,...
- 5/25/2011
- by Aaron Ruffcorn
- The Scorecard Review
Filed under: Features, Movies We Love, Sci-Fi, Cinematical
I consider myself a pretty serious movie fan, but the simple fact of the matter is that I miss stuff. Famous and interesting stuff. But not for long!
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column where I continue my film education before your very eyes. I will seek out and watch all of the movies I know I should have seen by now. I will first "review" the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation. Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try.
The Film: 'Solaris' (1972), Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Natalya Bondachuk, Donatas Baniounis, Juri Jarvet and other Russian people with names I don't have the ability to pronounce.
Why I Haven't Seen...
I consider myself a pretty serious movie fan, but the simple fact of the matter is that I miss stuff. Famous and interesting stuff. But not for long!
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column where I continue my film education before your very eyes. I will seek out and watch all of the movies I know I should have seen by now. I will first "review" the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation. Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try.
The Film: 'Solaris' (1972), Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Natalya Bondachuk, Donatas Baniounis, Juri Jarvet and other Russian people with names I don't have the ability to pronounce.
Why I Haven't Seen...
- 10/8/2010
- by Jacob Hall
- Moviefone
Filed under: Features, Movies We Love, Sci-Fi, Cinematical
I consider myself a pretty serious movie fan, but the simple fact of the matter is that I miss stuff. Famous and interesting stuff. But not for long!
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column where I continue my film education before your very eyes. I will seek out and watch all of the movies I know I should have seen by now. I will first "review" the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation. Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try.
The Film: 'Solaris' (1972), Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Natalya Bondachuk, Donatas Baniounis, Juri Jarvet and other Russian people with names I don't have the ability to pronounce.
Why I Haven't Seen...
I consider myself a pretty serious movie fan, but the simple fact of the matter is that I miss stuff. Famous and interesting stuff. But not for long!
Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column where I continue my film education before your very eyes. I will seek out and watch all of the movies I know I should have seen by now. I will first "review" the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation. Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try.
The Film: 'Solaris' (1972), Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Natalya Bondachuk, Donatas Baniounis, Juri Jarvet and other Russian people with names I don't have the ability to pronounce.
Why I Haven't Seen...
- 10/8/2010
- by Jacob Hall
- Cinematical
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