Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:03:19 -0600
From: James Jordan 
Subject: Re: (urth) Off topic: Solaris

At 05:04 PM 1/20/2003, you wrote:
>Echoing what Andy said, thanks, Nutria, for all the stuff on Solaris, which
>was fascinating.

         Well, I feel pretty sure about it. I've written to one of the 
Tarkovsky websites about this interpretation, to see if I can get any kind 
of interaction. Solaris is the only Tark film I've seen, so I don't have 
much context for my views. (Films like this only show in arthouses in huge 
cities, and I've never lived in such. And I don't feel like putting out the 
money to buy all of them on DVD.) As I recall, the Vatican gave him some 
kind of award for Solaris, which indicates to me that I'm not too far offbase.

>But about Solaris: I loved the original Russian film, which I went to see
>twice in the week it came out in this country and have seen several times
>since. When I heard that Hollywood was doing a remake, I could hardly
>believe that they would do anything so hubristic and utterly redundant.
>Anyway, I've recovered now, and I gather that the new version is now on
>general release in the States. An off-topic question, therefore, to you and
>others who have seen the new movie, which won't get to the UK for a while I
>suspect: is it any good? Reply off-list if you think it more appropriate!

         Well, I don't mind replying here onlist, but I don't have much to 
say. I saw the Tark version about a decade ago on video (the new DVD is 
much clearer). I did not have it enough in mind, therefore, to make much of 
a comparison with the new Soderberg version. There's nothing about the 
father in Soderberg; it's exclusively about Kelvin and Hani, and I guess 
kind of Hollywoody in that regard (love and sex). It's "Hani" who greets 
Kelvin when he falls to Solaris at the end, and she says "all is forgiven," 
which seemed almost to come out of nowhere. But I need to see the movie 
again and look for deeper elements, if there are any.
         Heck, I've never even read the book! I just liked the movie, and 
thought it might make a good example for what we were discussing. (And 
after all, Lem rejected the movie, so reading the novel is not very germane.)

Nutricious Nutria, the Other Brown Meat


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