Our current series of science fiction/fantasy classics continues this Tuesday evening with Andrei Tarkovsky's stunning 1972 adaptation of Stanislav Lem's novel "Solaris".
SOLARIS (167 min.)
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Language: Russsian, with English subtitles
WHEN: Tuesdy 10 September at 7:00pm
WHERE: Eden Grove Blue
ADMISSION: Free
The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems.
Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip.
Robert Horton, Amazon.com
More info on the current series at http://www.ru.ac.za/filmfest