Cinematic Civil War or “If You Like Solaris, You’re Out of the Family.”
A Review/Ponderance of Solaris by Mike Meyer
 
Just days before I saw this film, my brother came to me with a beef.  He had gone to see Solaris earlier in the day and was literally yelling at the top of his lungs about how much he hated it.  He screamed about how pointless and boring it was and to finale, yelled “I’m sorry, but if you like Solaris, you’re out of the family.”  Despite his ravings, there was no way I was going to miss the movie that would supposedly salvage my opinion of Soderbergh.  And you know what, I figure I’ll be disowned.
 
Don’t be fooled though.  Solaris is a hard movie to like, no matter what type of moviegoer you are.  This isn’t a popcorn movie.  It’s one of the most attention-demanding 90-minute films ever made.  And even after all the attention in the world is invested, it has a real ethereal non-specific ending with very little explanation of what happened or resolution to its own questions.  Plus, the film absolutely refuses to be categorized.  It only made the minimum requirements to be classified as a sci fi film.  Sure, there’s romance, but the philosophical undertones overshadow can confuse the hell out of anyone trying to watch a romantic film.  Unlike movies like Mulholland Drive or Julien Donkey Boy or even the film’s oft homaged 2001: A Space Odyssey, there’s no real visual or conceptual payoff if you don’t get the film either.  You’ve just watched George Clooney meander from one quiet, unimpressive cubbyhole of a spaceship to another, with a few sparse, Soderbergh color-palletted shots of Clooney on Earth and of the surface of the Solaris itself.  
 
So why is this film worth watching?  Why should I pay such close attention to it if I really won’t get anything out of it?  Because it makes a pretty bold statement if you get it.  Far be it from me to chisel in stone what the movie is definitely about, but what I took away from it made me like the film, not just “appreciate it for what it was”, the most sterile of compliments.  It’s stated in the film a few times in regards to God and space travel, but the film states it beautifully in regards to human relationships.  For me, it was all about egotism of human perception.  Now before you throw me, my soulpatch, my beat poetry and my bongos out in the street, hear me out.  It’s stated earlier in the film that man only travels into space really to find a reflection of himself and that man has a startling prediliction to make his God look like an old man.  Human beings for the most part perceive what they want to perceive and that’s the end of it.  Not only that, but what they want to perceive is almost hardwired into their brains.  The regeneration of Chris Kevin’s (George Clooney) wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone) constantly wanted to rid itself of its own existence, because it was completely controlled by Chris’s memory of her, which was patchy, inaccurate, and one sided.  If your memory was wiped clean and you were completely guided by someone’s memory of you, would the world seem right to you?  Even if it was someone really close to you?  You’re reduced to a caricature of who you really are and of course would feel like a huge part of you had been dissolved.  But then again, if that caricature is based on love and affection, do you really even want to consider that you’re a whole person if you’re truly happy?
 
Or more importantly, did I over think this movie?  More than likely.  Truth be told, the movie did leave enough doors open and avenues unexplored to constitute a number of explanations, one of them definitely being “they were just wandering blind through this damn plot, weren’t they?” and another being “this movie is like poetry, too ethereal and beautiful for an explanation.”  Whatever the case, you won’t ride the fence on Solaris.  You’ll either write it off as boring, self-serving tripe or you’ll come away with a feeling you hardly ever get coming out of a movie.  Either way, it’s a hell of an accomplishment for the people who decided to take a chance on such challenging material.  Top Drawer.

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