A bit ***

but i thought it was superb

one of the best films I have seen at the cinema for a long time

don't blame me if you hate it, a lot of people will

especially if you are American


It also trailed confessions of a dangerous mind which looks excellent, one to look forward to

[Geezer]

George Clooney said om film 2003 that it didnt go down to well in the US but from what ive seen it looks pretty good.

[James45]

yeh i'm looking forward to it and confessions.... looks superb!

[MrFurious]

Cant wait to see this one,about time something different came along in sci fi,unfortunatly the americans just dont like these movies where you have to think and the american flag is'nt waving about everywhere!!

[encaser]

It's not a bad film this and one which goes for the ethereal quality of relations which we either try to hold onto or fear with a passion. This also sits alongside many other sci fi works which venture the question of the importance of reality to whom and who or what can justifiably re/fill its space.
The story isn't really that difficult to follow but doesn't have the requisite explosions and "We're gonna die maaan" enough to make it too easy. The concept behind the story is eloquent but a little heavy handed in application, particularly so with Clooney's characters' retake. Though I can't go into detail or it'll kill it for the unseen.
There are some great ship shots and views of Solaris which will transfer well to dvd as a healthy juxtaposition to the claustrophobic internals of ship and all. The biggest flaw though to it all is, perhaps, that it wasn't longer and hadn't spent more time developing Clooney but more especially the other crew members characters who offered more than they were allowed.

I understood the film but it was a bit odd

The whole film was from Clooney's character's POV this meant development of the other characters was always going to be limited because we only saw them from his POV

It was a very asthetically pleasing film, very peaceful too.

[encaser]

Spoilerie


bobbles, I know what you're saying about Clooney's pov but I found it to be done in a too heavy handed manner. In that he was supposed to be a shrink and yet he showed very little interest in the remaining crew really from the outset. Yes later on you could say he was clearly seduced by the second chance scenario but as as a shrink he should've at the very least got on with finding out what was going on with the crew first more than one main chat. And owing to the nature of the story; have been fascinated by what was going on, as it was nothing short of feeding frenzy material for a shrink of just about any epistemological field. For my money he went from what's up, to fear and then acceptance of such a huge self-deceit too quickly. In short, it was simple fascination, to better bung 'her' off the ship and then suddenly let's try again and sod reality.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the film and in no small part to the camera tracing Natascha McElhone's shapely physiognomy. And yes it is a calming piece which had me recalling the mood lightening nature in parts of Blade Runner.
Whatever. Worth a buy on dvd for a bliss out sci fi fest - esp. if Ridder's gets around to releasing BR SE

this is true

i think he was already pretty screwed up on earth

then what happened on Solaris sent him over the edge

I suppose when it happened to him he understood perfectly what was making the other crew members act slightly odd


i thought it was very odd how no one questioned the fact one of the crew's visitors just stopped coming ....

and also we never got to see who the other crew member's visitor was

where was the rest of the crew and the rescue team?

surely he wouldn't have been sent alone

lots of the threads were not explained in full but I suppose it is left for the audience to make their own mind up

[encaser]

Spoilerie Chat Con't


Yeah I had several of the same thoughts bouncing around Bob.
As far as him going alone I think it was briefly stated as protocol for a lone shrink/negotiator to go or that was what 'the company' had managed to secure. This made it the more strange that Clooney's character got to go after his recent loss and obvious mental state of grief which had him vacant at best.
The absence of rescue team was weird but I think they and the 'missing' crew, such that it was, consisted of suicides who were either dead onboard or went off with their new friend It appeared that although the ship was huge it had a substantive AI element that did the driving/running. The crew appeared quite God-like.
Which crew member's visitor do you mean? The woman's one she offed. The guy's one was never seen until the end when it turned out it was a replica of himself twin-like/narcissus ala shrinks' field day! Then there was the little boy who came back at the end. So which one am I missing? Ooh, was there another dead un, I think there was come to think of it, but didn't they just say his visitor stopped coming. Yes I think they did, which had me considering that the visitors would perhaps 'wear out' without their creator's mental juice. But then the boy was still there at the end, so get the Asprin Matron.
The problem I had was that the fatalistic element was put in play really well and worked but was then destroyed by one of the visitors killing his creator. When it was fatalistic and of emotional draw I thought this to be an excellant tag; as I sat there pondering how, if news of the phenomena broke out on Earth, bereaved people would no doubt flock there en mass. A real shame as the innocuity/un-threatening nature of the visitors made for more mental meanders of wo/man as their own worst enemy to emotion as opposed to the typical threat that 'aliens' of much sci fi represent.
Still, as you note, the questions were left to puzzle and to that extent it worked though perhaps not as well as could of been done - if only a couple of English brains were drawn upon

we never got to see the black woman's visitor, she got rid of it though using the gadget they made

the little boy was clooney's mate's son

At the start the film the odd bloke said his visitor, his brother had gone away

it turned out his visitor was him and his visitor (him) killed him (the real one) leaving the visitor, him, on board.....i think

[encaser]

Spoiler chat con't


Yes Bob that's as I took it. It's a pity we didn't see the micro fusion accelerater doofry going on a visitor. As it happens I felt cheated when the crew woman said she'd done not only hers but Clooney's too and we never got to see either
Oh well.

they prob run out of time and money

[Lex]

** SPOILERS **






Hi all,

Just seen this last night.

Didn't know anything about it at all before hand so it was a pleasent surprise to find it wasn't a brainless action flick.

Visually superb, as you guys say...

For the first half I was thinking that this was going to be one of the best films I had ever seen, but it trailed off in the second half - for the reasons you two have mentioned, and also it was never going to have a satisfying ending...

I respect the fact that George Clooney isn't frightened of picking non-mainstream films to be in.

[encaser]

I'd of respected Clooney far more if he hadn't shown his arse so much
This may sound totally homophobic/sexist but women and gay exec's/film makers must've thought they'd died and gone to spangle-laden heaven ever since pc madness. I mean it's all sex scenes with women wearing bras during 'the' act and mens bums on show either naked or during bending down shots and, ahem, up from behind in some format. I'm all for equality, but bloody hell, where'd the other 52% go

[Lex]

Yeah, especially as he was standing between a naked Natascha McElhone and the camera!

[encaser]

Damn straight Lex, or not, it's just not sporting.

[mjn]

a little off topic but, Natascha McElhone's accent in Ronin was terrible......

[James45]

"Oiim am from Norden eyeeland!!" Think she'd watched Patriot Games one to many times.

[CJROSS]

Seen it last night, superb, superb film (well to my tastes) and the best soundtarck I have heard in absolutely effin ages, was that some type of steel drums going on, man whatever it was it added to the overall feel to the movie, the score added to the film 100%.

Good un, no wonder it bombed in the US, I seen a review on JR and the quote from Clooney was well I think it will do well in France as the US audience did not "hook" into it.

Intelligent & different, nice film, some good stuff around at present, I thought NARC was good a few weeks ago so some good films are about just now.

Well IMHO of course.

[Matinee]

SPOILY:

It was interesting, but ultimately a tad unsatisfying. I didnt think the way Clooney's character reacted considering his background was realistic. There were a lot of unanswered questions (particularly the 'Clooney's lover/little boy' scene), and thinking about it again, whilst I can understand the ending I really dont like it.

I might get the original on DVD to see what it's like though.

PK

I loved the music as well - really beautiful. Never heard of the composer before - has anyone else?

[CJROSS]

Sam check out the Music forum I posted there about it, and quite a bit of info has been kindly supplied by Rambo JJ FYI.