Filmmaker reacts to Solaris (1972) for the FIRST TIME!

[@littleghostfilms3012]

Tarkovsky was primarily a poet of cinema, and not unrelated, his father Arseny, was a famous poet in Russia. All of his films are poetic and philosophical explorations of human's deepest longings for meaning and transcendence. He died way too young, but left an almost perfect legacy of films that are beyond any description of them. Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rubilev, The Mirror, Stalker, Nostalghia, The Sacrifice, are his most significant films. He was one of the most important and well loved film directors by other greats of cinema. Please look more deeply at his work, so that new generations may discover the treasures he left us.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Will do!

[@kuribayashi84]

Fun fact: The scene of Burton driving through a City were filmed in Tokyo. Another fun fact: Akira Kurosawa was in Moscow at the time _Solaris_ was filmed, he visited (and complimented) the Space Station-Set and had a long conversation with Tarkovsky. Apparently, the two got along very well.

[@jackbedient]

I would have loved to have been present in the company of those two masters…

[@feno8104]

I wonder if he had something to do with the design of the movie poster where Kris is carrying a clearly anime-faced Hari

[@ActualMichael]

Stalker is my go to answer when people ask me what my favorite film is, although you can never truly have one favorite film.

[@iarroganti]

After you posted this, I went and got the Criterion edition to watch before you reaction, and in the commentary and interviews they mentioned that Natalya Bondarchuk, who played Hari was 19 when this was filmed was using the Little Mermaid as a model of something supernatural becoming human. She stayed close with Tarkovsky and has written and directed several movies later on, so it may be worth looking for those if you can find them.

[@DumblyDorr]

The book had a big impact on me when I read it so many years ago. The movie skips on a good deal of the philosophical ponderings in the novel, and instead places the focus mostly on the psychodynamics of the characters. While the philosophical issues and how they're integrated are my favorite things about Solaris as a story, the movie gave me a much deeper appreciation for its emotional aspects than I had before. Incredible book - amazing movie!

[@BadWisdom523]

Man, you keep pulling rabbits out of hats. Love it.

[@BadWisdom523]

I mean what next? Some Buñuel? Maybe! Love your channel

[@JamesVSCinema]

Might just have to pull another!

[@christiandivine3807]

You're the bravest reactor!

[@transformersrevenge9]

Fun fact, the man playing Dr. Snaut is from my country. He was dubbed over into Russian here, since his Russian was not the greatest. But he did have an amazing career on theater and film here and in the USSR, playing roles like King Lear, and in the trippy sci-fi classic from the writers of Stalker, ''Dead Mountaineer's Hotel ''. And since I'm from a family that was around the theater a lot, he (and his son) was one of the local big names we knew (well he died before my time, but my parents knew everyone in the industry here).

[@buffstraw2969]

The idea in Lem's novel is that most of the scientists on the Station left, not because weird things were happening, but they had simply lost faith in the science of Solaristics. After decades of research, they were still unable to make Contact with the alien Ocean, so they gave it up, as a lost cause. Only 3 hardcore true believers stayed behind: Snaut, Sartorius, and Gibarian. That's when the "guests" first began to appear. The Ocean was trying to contact THEM, in its own weird alien way. The guests are rather like the artificial bees that scientists place into a beehive, to see how the real bees will react. After some initial curiosity, the real bees usually attack the fake bee. Solaris is doing something similar, creating human duplicates to observe the reactions of the human scientists on the Station. The guests are made of neutrinos, which can penetrate any solid matter, so it's impossible to keep them out. Solid walls and locked doors don't block them. Soderbergh's 2002 remake is a vastly inferior version. Soderbergh changes the liquid Ocean into a gaseous star, and loses the mythical resonance (Hari is like the Greek goddess Aphrodite, rising out of the Ocean). Even worse, Soderbergh tacks on an artificial Hollywood happy ending, where Kelvin and Hari go back to Earth and live happily ever after. The tragic power of Lem's story is lost, where Kelvin loses Hari. Imagine a mediocre filmmaker giving Romeo and Juliet a happy ending!!! It would ruin Shakespeare's tragic (and therefore memorable) ending. Anyway, Hari CAN'T go back to Earth. She's made out of neutrinos, not atoms (as we are), which are stabilized by Solaris' force field. If she leaves Solaris, she ceases to exist. Those are the ground rules, and Soderbergh blithely ignores them, for the sake of his happy-sappy ending. This is why Tarkovsky was a master filmmaker, and Soderbergh a mere hack. (End of rant.)

[@marianovaschetto5280]

You are falling for one of the falacies Lem warns us about in Solaris (and in another great book, Master's Voice): our tendency to adscribe human-like motivations to an entirely alien... being, thing, consciousness? Trying to understand the ocean and what goes on in the station from our own human point of view (a scientist experimenting on a beehive) is futile. This was one of Lem greatest's criticism of western science fiction: the idea that if and when we find alien life we'll be able to understand it and establish some sort of meaningful communication. Most likely we won't be able to even recognize we are in front of another intelligence.

[@antoniomedina6377]

In the ending, he hugs his father while he is on his knees. This is a reference to the painting called The Return of the Prodigal Son by artist Rembrandt

[@JamesVSCinema]

You are correct!! Great catch.

[@timvanbaelen9797]

Excellent choice! The depth of the reactions on this channel is unseen!

[@JamesVSCinema]

Glad you think so! That’s dope!

[@waterspout8]

Thank you for this reaction; this is an extraordinary film. I really like the employment of that beautiful Bach organ prelude throughout. The director's last name is pronounced Tar-koff-ski, by the way.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks too!

[@SighDontWantAHandle]

Stanislaw Lem wrote some amazing books. He was the Polish Ray Bradbury. His books are so good they were translated into 50 languages. Amazing writer. Solaris is his biggest book, but all his other books are great. He writes with an eastern European perspective, so If you've read Catch 22, the themes will feel similar. Strongly recommended. Also, the 2002 Solaris made by Stephen Soderberg is very good.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Will definitely be checking out!

[@glebivanov6323]

​@@JamesVSCinema truely speaking Lem never appreciated both Solaris film adaptations. He tried to work on the scenario with Tarkovskiy, they quarreled, Lem quit the movie and left. Later he was frustated and annoyed about the result. But when the Soderberg's film was created Lem said that in comparison Tarkovsky's film was pretty good, 'cause the new film was just ridiculous. Lem was not just a science fiction author. He was an actual scientist, philosopher and futurologist. As a science fiction author Lem was just one of the best of all time. His books are very, very clever, deep and philosophical, with numerous of insights. And also many of his books are very funny (but not Solaris). Lem's Solaris (the novel) is pretty close to Tarkovskiy's film by the plot but way different by the core vision. There were no Kris's father in the novel, no other family members, no father's house, no return of the prodigal son. Nobody except phantomic Hari and nothing about his Earth life except his memories about his life with Hari. At the same time there was MUCH more about the Ocean. Tarkovskiy as always made the film about the humanity in every case. "Human needs human" - the words of Tarkovskiy's Snaut, but not Snaut in the novel. Lem's novel about the problem and possibility of the Contact with the extraterrestrial intelligence. The Ocean was sane and it was proved. Solaris even was able to change the orbit of his planet because it can fall on his star. But he (it) was absolutely unhuman. Human can't even imaging what sort of sanity the Ocean has. No way, no chance of contact with each other despite the spended time, despite any scientific efforts and despite "guest". There're boundaries of knowledge for humankind, according to Lem. "Human doesn't need another worlds, he affraids of them, human is looking for the mirror" - that are the words of Snaut from the novel. It seems close to Tarkovskiy's words of Snaut but it's opposite if you think carefully.

[@brettcoster4781]

Really impressed with your changes thru this reaction as the film opened up to you, and you opened up to it. Absolutely terrific film by a fantastic filmmaker, so glad that you also were impressed by it.

[@mikefoster6018]

That director's film Stalker is my favourite ever, though I only fell in love with it on second viewing.

[@mattirealm]

It took me two viewings also, and then I was hooked. I have seen it a dozen times and it is clearly one of the best films ever made.

[@mikefoster6018]

@@mattirealm I read the original book ("Roadside Picnic") while a foreman in the jury of a horrible court case that lasted two months. It was a surreal time!

[@jimralston7562]

I first watched Solaris about 3 months ago. Having grown up as a huge sci-fi fan, how did it evade me? Two months ago I read Roadside Picnic. Again, how did this novel evade me? Then I learned it had been made into a movie titled Stalker. Oh great... some cheesy rip off... until i read the directors name... I instantly watched it and was (again) amazed! Thank you James for stretching yourself and i find your comments and insights interesting and insightful!

[@shainewhite2781]

This is a great Sci Fi movie, where it makes us ask, what makes us human, who are we, where do we come from, why are we here, and how long we have left to live.

[@DanLyndon]

Mirror is Tarkovsky's best film, which is his autobiography in a sense, although Solaris may be my favorite. As far as the ending, the book basically explains what's going on, but the film version is great because it opens up so many interpretations.

[@everkang]

So glad you got to see this! It's one of my all-time faves. The director really does give you time to think about what's going on. That long highway drive is infamous, but it has me pondering the situation just as much as Kris does. Such wonderful stuff.

[@JohnVinylGen]

James, watch "Andrei Rublev" (1966)(the original director's cut 205 minute version) and "Mirror" (1975)also known by it's Russian title "Zerkalo". Both by Andrei Tarkovsky.

[@romainlettuce118]

Dude, the bell making scene is the best! Pack full of symbolism

[@montag4516]

Andrei Rublev is an epic film. A grand piece of work indeed.

[@tetleyT]

Awesome reaction James. Been waiting a long time for this one. Truly love this movie. Takes on huge ideas, and I think great sci-fi has to have the ability to keep us at arms length. There has to be something unknowable about it. All the best sci-fi movies do this. 2001. Under the Skin. And of course Solaris. Also, highly recommend the book. Brilliant.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Couldn't agree more!

[@kentinatl]

top 20 film of all time..Tarkovsky,Malick,Kubrick my 3 fave directors...love your channel,Kent in Ohio

[@helvete_ingres4717]

Kubrick stands out from the other two who were/are explicitly Christian film-makers

[@DanLyndon]

@@helvete_ingres4717 Yeah but it's not like their films are religious as such. All were just philosophical in their own ways.

[@chr1sh1ms3lf]

I always interpreted it as Kris staying on the station and the entity was able to learn his wants and develop a world around him. The alien entity doesn't fully understand all the mechanics of the human's world but tries its best. This is why it's raining inside. The book makes a point to describe how things aren't quite right. Like non-functional buttons on a a dress that makes it seemingly impossible to take off or put on.

[@stsolomon618]

I remember seeing at my friend's house. Great film.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Agreed!! So many things to talk about with this film.

[@neillio]

YES! Love to see this movie get a react!

[@christianmunthe1572]

Lovely to have you finally geting to this one. Note how the idea-theme here is similar to Stalker: would you really want your innermost desires realised? Yes in one case, no in another.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Loved this comment Christian.

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

Always excited about your exploration of Tarkovsky! You should give Luis Buñuel films a try! Belle De Jour or The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoise would be awesome!

[@JamesVSCinema]

I'll check it out!

[@rhwinner]

Mirror is my fave Tark picture.

[@MBIRTIRoma]

Yes my guy I mentioned this when. U first watched stalker. This my favorite Tarkovsky film next to The Mirrror. The consciousness in outer space.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Noted! I’ll be getting to more of his work.

[@antoniomedina6377]

I love your videos man. this movie is one of my favorite psychological Scifi films. The ocean of the planet is like a living Life form that is able to create things out of a person's mind. The main character not being able to live with the pain ends up staying on solaris to live in his past memories instead of going back home to reality. I like how, in the end you can tell the place is not perfect it's because solaris is just creating a fake image of home. I get silent hill vibes from this just like the film Cure.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Silent Hill..that’s the game that really brought a similar vibe. Happy you enjoyed this video!

[@hansmaulwurf3572]

A great movie by a great director based on a fantastic book.

[@do-ol2540]

I was wondering if you could React to the movie. The Trial (1962) it’s an incredible fascinating movie and is directed by Orson Welles and stars Anthony Perkins. If anyone knows about the movie please help spread the word. I feel like it should be seen by more people.

[@angelsunemtoledocabllero5801]

Great movie. Very underrated.

[@mercurymachines4311]

Wow, what a pleasant surprise. Tarkovsky is the greatest Filmmaker of all time.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Happy to be getting to more of him!

[@mercurymachines4311]

@@JamesVSCinema Mirror and Andrei Rublev are his best in my opinion. Mirror is my favourite but it’s one to watch once you have a few of his Films under your belt.

[@ZK1.0]

@@JamesVSCinemasave Mirror and The Sacrifice for last you wont regret it.

[@TylerNorCal]

Facts, Mirror is one of the greatest films ever made imo hope he gets to that one day.

[@romainlettuce118]

⁠@@JamesVSCinema dude I think you’ll love Andrei Rublev because it’s about the struggle of an artist and their relationship to the Divine.

[@robertbasine8842]

STALKER is also loosely based on a science fiction novel called ROADSIDE PICNIC. Another GREAT read if you’re so inclined.

[@CT.1982]

You need to see Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice. You'll love it. His final film

[@sixayah22]

Favorite film maker again❤

[@JamesVSCinema]

Definitely legendary 🤘🏽

[@donaldb1]

There's another more recent adaptation of Solaris, by Steven Soderbergh (2002), with George Clooney and Natasha McElhone. It doesn't get so much love, but I think it's worth watching as well as this. Each of the book and both movies are interestingly different. The book deals a lot with the limits of science and difficulty of communication across alien boundaries and this film, as you have seen, is like an existential horror, but Soderbergh's movie focuses in much more closely on the relationship between Kris and his wife. I think all three versions complement each other.

[@Roguegunslinger1]

I really loved that Soderbergh movie. I had never seen the first movie until recently, and re-watching this reaction now it is clear that in the 2002 version all the themes and concepts leapt out from the material as if they were impervious to adaptation. What I felt back then I just felt again for the Tarkovsky version. It's just such an incredible concept and the execution is great in both.

[@pricemoore2022]

Awesome reaction of my favorite movie!!!!!!!!!😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@JamesVSCinema]

Hope you enjoy!

[@frankraiac]

More Tarkovsky please! Put "The Mirror" on your list.

[@evoste]

Along with 2001 a true ATG film in the genre, both taken from very different perspectives yet both executed perfectly. Love your reactions James, I've seen a lot of film and it's good to see someone else's perspective who has the same enthusiasm and passion for film, full respect.

[@alwaysbreezy37]

Yes! Tarkovsky 🙌

[@celinhabr1]

I'm so in love with this movie. Honestly, i love Tarkovsky cinema. Unforgettable!

[@leofedorov1030]

The last scene is definitely open to interpretation. I used to believe Kris decided to stay, but now I think it was the “Ocean’s” creation and its continuing attempt to tap into the realm of human consciousness. The Ocean essentially reproduced an entire scene from the mind of Kris. He missed his father deeply and had a lot of suppressed regret and guilt about his relationships with his loved ones. He most likely many times envisioned his return to his dad in exactly the same way (minus the rain indoors, of course). The main message of the film is that love and sense of belonging at the end is what’s most important to us as human beings, even if we are transported to the furthest corners of the universe. It is an anthem to the significance of human emotions over rationality.

[@feno8104]

That's more or less what I picked up on my first watch. I don't watch these kinds of movies often but this and Stalker taught me to think more critically about what potential themes a movie might be telling

[@michaelcunningham8254]

Great reaction! Awesome to see you tackle Tarkovsky, so much to dive into with each of his films.

[@robertbasine8842]

This movie is brilliant … but the novel offers so much more. I HIGHLY recommend reading it if you’re so inclined.

[@FaradayBananacage]

This movie is brilliant, and believe it or not you're one of the only people to do a reaction. Well done! Maybe we're both on the same island of reality.

[@VilleHalonen]

Dude. I'd have never guessed anyone would have the guts to react to Tarkovsky. I think I'll have to go buy a hat just to raise it for you, sir.

[@Miika_Hakalahti]

I dont have money for patreon, but I think James would really enjoy watching and analyzing Cloud Atlas. I just rewatched it yesterday for the first time in years and started to kinda love it and couldn't believe that there werent any reactions to it on KZbin. I think it's an incredibly ambitious and thought provoking piece of art which deserves more recognition. Also, awesome to get Tarkovsky reactions.

[@Sims_E]

What a masterpiece!

[@dqan7372]

Can't go too far wrong with Tarkovsky or Lem. And the combination is a trip! Great to see you watching this.

[@hareyblack]

I've been binge watching your Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul/Mr. Robot reactions and when I saw this video I couldn't believe it haha, this is my favorite film of all time, I even did my dissertation on it (although I didn't do a great job...) Thanks for all of the reactions, you have a great taste (meaning you like the same things I do, not egotistical at all lol), keep it up :) EDIT: You mentioned Kurosawa - who I believe is one of Tarkovsky's biggest inspirations.

[@donkfail1]

I love this movie. I saw it when I was way too young to understand it at all. Then I read the book a few years later, but I was still too young to really get it. But with the years it stewed in my mind and I understood more in retrospect. Still not sure I got everything the author and filmmaker was saying last time I got into the book and movie. But as the theory of us all living in a simulation has been more explored, this shows that it wasn't necessary to involve computers (or even technology at all) to contemplate that view on existence. You kept your composure well at the end. Just amused astonishment. :D The mind slowly bends to be able to wrap around the movie from start, and then the reveal just snaps it. Epic mind blowing!

[@leroystea8069]

I am so excited you decided to share this film as part of your library of film studies. I can remember hearing of this film years back and how some reviewers considered this to be Russia's version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I became more interested in this after seeing the version by Steven Soderbergh (2002), with George Clooney and Natasha McElhone. Both films have a meditative quality to it with the 2002 version creating different questions. Both versions are done extremely well. What I loved about this is how could mankind interact with something so alien that it is beyond our understanding. For the 1972 version, did we infect this alien presence by our study of it? Would it have an ulterior motive once it copied our memories into physical existence? Is it in fact trying to understand us or itself? I love how these are not answered and opens the door to deeper thoughts which is the sign of really good science fiction. Yep, your views on this are spot on. Thanks again for doing this. Eventually, I'll join the Patreon group. Really like how you approach these.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Happy you enjoyed the first watch through of this..! This film really embodies conversation so I’m happy people seem to enjoy all aspects of the commentary.

[@JohnBullard]

Please investigate THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP. It's one of Scorcese's favorites. He even filmed an intro to the film. It's an incredible film and you'll know it in the first minute. It will also acquaint you with THE ARCHERS, Powell and Pressburger. Scorcese has expressed sincerely how excited he would get as a young man when seeing the Archer logo at the beginning of the film. "I knew I was in for something special."

[@CT.1982]

Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev should be on your list if you want an impeccable historical drama. Probably the best historical epic ever made

[@Melkor1818]

Tarkovsky really is the counterpart to Kubrick. Where Kubrick is cerebral and complex Tarkovsky there is a deep emotional punch thats equally complex. Both their discographies are pretty spectacular.

[@ambassadorcartwright9127]

I read this book and really loved it. I didn't learn until today that it was a movie AND directed by the same guy who did Stalker! I gotta go watch the full movie now.

[@ultravisione9311]

YES!

[@matthewgeraci5107]

Heard that Solaris is a response to Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Films that make you THINK & FEEL..he's the best to do it! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day!

[@RenfrewPrume]

This was a huge flop when it came out, even among most SF fans. Two reasons: (1) its great length and long, static scenes, which was very rare for movies in that era, and (2) many people did not understand it. I liked it, and my admiration for it has grown over the years. One important theme, which runs through much of Lem’s work, is the incomprehensibility of alien life. I believe you misunderstood the clue given by Gibarian, “It has something to do with conscience.” Yes, the resurrections are drawn from the people’s consciousness by the Ocean, but that is only the MacGuffin. Conscience, the personal feelings of guilt and regret within each person, is the material the Ocean draws on. This tells us that the Ocean, in its own weird way, is trying to heal these people. However, it has no idea what it is doing, because we are as incomprehensible to it as it is to us. Consequently, I think you have misinterpreted the ending. The Ocean wants to heal Kelvin’s estrangement from his father, and so creates the island. However, for all its power, the Ocean’s simulacrums are flawed, and so we get rain inside the house. Nevertheless, Kelvin is satisfied (IIRC). Lem’s “Solaris” is an excellent book, but many other Lem books are better, I think. My favorites are “The Futurological Congress,” “His Master’s Voice,” and “Eden” (the scariest SF novel ever).

[@КиануДепп]

The Challenge (2023) ❤❤❤

[@frence]

One of my fav sci-fi movies It's crazy to think that Andrei made that movie in response of 2001 A Space Odyssey, which he hated Please, watch his debut film Ivan's Childhood

[@arlenearmstrong8270]

One of your best reactions

[@Edninety]

I'm saving this one for when I have (finally) watched the movie, but I just want to say that the book is outstanding. Has a very star trek-ish feel to it in the sense of having a more exploratory, trying-to-understand-something-unknown kind of vibe, rather than the usual anyways-I-started-blasting attitude you'd find in more commercial sci-fi's. By the way, that is not meant to be a judgement, I also love to enjoy those kinda movies! And it then even manages to have a very unique love story inside of it that in no way feels to have been forced into the plot, but is an important pillar of the philosophical questions that are able to be asked within the sci-fi framework. Again, a great read, defionately recommend it

[@neel3297]

I love sci-fi, mystery movies. Solaris and Stalker my top favorite movie.

[@wietzejohanneskrikke1910]

There is a big difference between conscience and consciousness. Conscience has to do with guilt. Whatever manifests itself to the crew is something that the individuals of the crew feel guilty about. They're trapped in a literal guilt trip.

[@c.w.miller8195]

"I don't even know what life, even, what life even is when you're a figment of an imagination from an organism that's not even human but has learned consciousness by studying it. That's insane. That's, that sounds wild." I think you'd enjoy the book! Kind of a meditation on the limits of what the human mind can understand.

[@aeneasfate]

The 2002 american remake is the first time I saw filmmakers pushing the concept of 're-imagining from the original source material.' Despite copying scenes here not present in the book, and doing the same cutting the story down almost entirely to just this one relationship, ignoring the rest of the book. So every time people use a variant of the phrase now, I know exactly what they're doing.

[@ScottLahteine]

I like how earlier one character says “I think it has something to do with conscience,” (I.e., feelings of guilt and shame) and then later he says that science doesn’t matter, that genius and mediocrity are both just as useless in the face of Solaristics. … Taking special note that “conscience” is the combination of “con” (against) and “science.” Are the pangs of conscience and feeling responsible for bad things in your past undermining to science? But more importantly, does the guilt we carry form an important foundation of our identity? Solaris seems to think so.

[@thatblenderguy7566]

Just Watched This Film Recently. Solaris (1972) Is The Second Andrei Tarkovsky Film I've Ever Watched, The First Being Stalker (1979) Film. Amazing Film. 9/10.

[@steved1135]

James... hitting hard again with more great Sci Fi, and even based on great original Sci Fi source material. Beautiful. What's next? 1979's Stalker, based on the Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic ?? Love the commitment to the art James.

[@JamesVSCinema]

Someone’s gotta keep the love for these alive! Happy it’s us. This film rocks.

[@TTM9691]

4:10 "I'm a huge fan of films starting off with not a lot of talking.".....well, then you're going to LOOOOVE Tarkovsky! 😄

[@jennifergrove2368]

I believe he did "Ivan's Childhood" which is amazing as well.

[@rikurodriguesneto6043]

Who's to say we're not surrounded by the ocean right now?

[@Ampersand100]

Yeah, maybe KZbin is a product of the ocean. All those recommended videos are created from your memories to be just what you'd like. :-)

[@rikurodriguesneto6043]

@@Ampersand100 Certainly seems like they're starting to regret their existence

[@stevetheduck1425]

The Norse believed there was an ocean around all of everything. Did they mean the 'seven seas', or did they realise space existed. Occasionally. Marvel Comics almost begin to approach something approaching what the Norse Gods represented...

[@erikathesomething]

I wrote 2 different papers in grad school that covered Soviet culture through Solyaris. One compared it to 2001 and one to the US remake of the film. Great expression of filmmaking but of culture at a very specific time in history. Edit: the one comparing it to 2001 was for a course led by a man exiled from the USSR for his Estonian advocacy. His name had to be struck from academic journals or hidden because of it. So, so cool to learn from someone who lived it hardcore.

[@pauljefferies6585]

You watch such a good selection of movies! I would love to see you watching Fellini’s 8 1/2 if you haven’t already seen it. Possibly the best film about the struggle to be a filmmaker ever

[@1skcusebutuoy1]

The original book is by Stanislaw Lem. Lem was very critical about science fiction writing because he felt that we were simply projecting our own anthropomorphic thinking on alien life. There is a line in the movie/book "we don't want other worlds.. we want a mirror." Lem felt that if we did discover other life, it would be nearly impossible to understand it because we wouldn't be able to not think of it as another human rather than something...alien. Tarkovsky even takes it a step further and has the planet studying (and actually understanding) THEM while they remain clueless as to what the planet is doing and why. Humans give up on Solaristics, and even nuke the planet in the end to get it to stop. Most of Lem's work is like this. An even better book, His Master's Voice, also explores this theme, and most of his work is very cynical and often has twist endings where the protagonist's human-centered thinking and lack of understanding of alien culture ends up literally killing them.

[@ZK1.0]

2002 a space depression

[@ZK1.0]

jk i love Tarkovsky

[@JamesVSCinema]

Lmfaoooo!!

[@GromKuba]

Great film of great director, based on great novel of great writer.

[@koanikal]

I highly recommend Mirror, by Tarkovsky. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it.

[@jpgabobo]

Dude, saw the Loooooooong cut at an art house cinema in the 1980's. Great novelist, great movie. Strongly recommend "To the star's by hard ways" or whatever it's called today, Amazing Science fiction from the era of USSR cinema. "LEM" is a gem BTW...

[@hanzoyamazaki2551]

Andrei Tarkovsky actually died years after making the movie Stalker,all them crazy shots especially in the run down buildings were mostly done in the actual zone of Chernobyl close to Pripyat. Tarkovsky, his wife Larisa, and actor Anatoly Solonitsyn all died from the same type of cancer. Vladimir Sharun, a sound designer for Stalker, was convinced that all three died due to exposure to chemicals released from a chemical plant upstream from where the film was shot.

[@andbrittain]

Hi James, thankyou for your great reaction to Solaris. I have been following your content for a year or so now and I really like your reactions, good job bro. This is one of my favourite movies so I thought I’d take the time to share my take on this film. This is just my personal naive interpretation and I don’t think for a moment this opinion was the film maker’s or the writer’s intention it is just how I chose to interpret it. I felt that the planet itself was some sort of conscious entity like the Gia theory the whole planet as an organism and some how it has evolved weird psychic and other abilities perhaps for self defensive reasons, I’m not sure. But when other outside entities approach it to study, occupy or to exploit it. It reads or absorbs their conscious and memories, distils core points of inner conflict like psycho analysis, it diagnoses the things that make one tick, and it throws back at any approaching life form core unresolved issues, regrets, mistakes that make up each individual. In Chris’s case it threw his dead wife back at him, Chris feels guilty about his wife’s suicide, it’s a central unresolved trauma in his life. He is so conflicted by this part of his history that when, not his actual wife, but this strange facsimile of his memory of his wife appears he is drawn back into this inner turmoil and he can no longer function, his reasons for being there in the first place now take a back seat to him having to relive and navigate through his feelings about his wife. He is no longer able to objectively study the planet or help his comrades due to dealing with his own neuroses and the longer he stays he is kind of absorbed by the planet. He resolves to leave Solaris and return to earth and his father so the planet grows an Island for him and gives him the illusion that he has indeed returned home when in actual fact he has really been transported somehow to the Island in this alien ocean. No one will break free and return home, everyone who approaches this planet is sucked into it and absorbed. I think this is how the planet protects itself from outside life forms. It reads their minds, gaslights them by manifesting beings from ones sub conscious and ultimately assimilates them as helpless dupes without agency. I also thought that the sequences of slow pans across old paintings was like a metaphor for the visitors the planet pitches at the humans. They are not quite the real thing but memory's and impressions of things that were once whole and real. Like a painting of something, Anyway that's my take. Let me know if you think I’m missing something, Stay well and keep up the good work James. All the best from Andrew in Sydney.

[@JamesVSCinema]

This was an awesome Andrew! I’m digging this theory! Happy you enjoyed yourself with the video!

[@jackbedient]

The novel by Stanislaw Lem is considered a classic. It’s a great read. Tarkovsky adapting Lem was akin to Kubrick working with Clarke…

[@prpfunk]

Tarkovsky is one of the great masters. I won't bore you with recommendations for his films, other comments already did this. What I do want to recommend is his book Sculpting in Time, one of the greatest books on film making ever written. It will absolutely change the way you think about cinema. As for Stanislaw Lem, I haven't had the chance to read his novels yet but apparently a bunch of new translations were just published recently that do a much better job than what had been around in the US, so I would keep an eye out for those.

[@contacluj758]

I liked how you combined Truffaut and Tarkovsky and said Truffovsky

[@nyoodmono4681]

We are going deep! The book is great, Stanislaw Lem has this reoccuring theme where humankind reaches the threshold of understanding and fails to "make contact" because what they encounter is so outlandish that it becomes incognizable. I wonder if you will watch the newer version by Soderbergh. At first i did not like it, but by now i really apreciate it too.

[@ethelwulfmountbattenderoth2286]

Yeah, this one is a real mind f*ck. It gives you plenty of space to try and process what is going on. She is only an image of his memories of her, but as time goes on, she becomes her own person. A lot to chew on.

[@Carlo1629-b3e]

James, the book explains that Solaris has been studied for over 100 years and over 700 people died there.

[@MaciejCzub]

You bring to the surface real pearls of cinema. Please maintain this direction, because few have the courage. Continue Tarkovsky - e.g. "Mirror." You watched Haneke's "Funny Games" - reach for more, e.g. "The Piano Teacher", "Caché". And then there's Antonioni's "Blow-Up," Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York," "A Short Film About Killing," "Three Colors: Red" (Kieslowski) and a host of others. Outstanding films disappear covered by tons of blockbusters. By recalling them here, you save them from oblivion.

[@imdiyu]

"That liquid giant had been the death of hundreds of men. The entire human race had tried in vain to establish even the most tenuous link with it, and it bore my weight without noticing me any more than it would notice a speck of dust. I did not believe that it could respond to the tragedy of two human beings. Yet its activities did have a purpose... True, I was not absolutely certain, but leaving would mean giving up a chance, perhaps an infinitesimal one, perhaps only imaginary… Must I go on living here then, among the objects we both had touched, in the air she had breathed? In the name of what? In the hope of her return? I hoped for nothing. And yet I lived in expectation. Since she had gone, that was all that remained. I did not know what achievements, what mockery, even what tortures still awaited me. I knew nothing, and I persisted in the faith that the time of cruel miracles was not past." The concluding paragraph from the book.

[@simonfrederiksen104]

Amazing

[@RaijinsTower]

Your analysis made think of the similarities between this film and the video game duology: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2. It has a quite a few religious, spiritual, technological and philosophical themes.

[@seansersmylie]

Andrei Rublev is the greatest film of all time! Tarkovsky never made a film that isn't a masterpiece.

[@Lmaoh5150]

Rublev next!

[@RenfrewPrume]

This was a huge flop when it came out, even among most SF fans. Two reasons: (1) its great length and long, static scenes, which was very rare for movies in that era, and (2) many people did not understand it. I liked it, and my admiration for it has grown over the years. One important theme, which runs through much of Lem’s work, is the incomprehensibility of alien life. I believe you misunderstood the clue given by Gibarian, “It has something to do with conscience.” Yes, the resurrections are drawn from the people’s consciousness by the Ocean, but that is only the MacGuffin. Conscience, the personal feelings of guilt and regret within each person, is the material the Ocean draws on. This tells us that the Ocean, in its own weird way, is trying to heal these people. However, it has no idea what it is doing because we are as incomprehensible to it as it is to us. Consequently, I think you have misinterpreted the ending. The Ocean wants to heal Kelvin’s estrangement from his father, and so creates the island. However, for all its power, the Ocean’s simulacrums are flawed, and so we get rain inside the house. Nevertheless, Kelvin is satisfied (IIRC). Lem’s “Solaris” is an excellent book, but many other Lem books are better, I think. My favorites are “The Futurological Congress,” “His Master’s Voice,” and “Eden” (the scariest SF novel ever).

[@Sims_E]

Also, I don’t think Kris ever leaves space in the end - he stays there completely lost in his memories, asking his father for forgiveness and staying with Hari forever.

[@rpmfla]

I appreciate you watching this one instead of the George Clooney remake. The remake is fine, but OG is better in my opinion.

[@jakehobbes3747]

Always thought Solaris & Vertigo would make a great double feature.

[@cabhan]

love tarkovsky but watching this in the cinema gave me covid for the first time lol

[@JamesVSCinema]

LMFAO DAMN 😭

[@cabhan]

@@JamesVSCinema i had 2 screenings of perfect blue and akira lined up as well in the days after solaris and was too sick to go 😭 9/10 film

[@moderndancingfool]

A Tarkovsky on a reaction channel? Hitting Subscribe immediately.