2002, 1 hr 35 min., Rated PG-13 on appeal for sexuality/nudity, brief language and thematic elements. Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem.�Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Cast: George Clooney (Chris Kelvin), Natascha McElhone (Rheya Kelvin), Jeremy Davies (Snow), Viola Davis (Helen Gordon).

As the end credits rolled and the lights came back on, I felt like a hoity-toity intellectual, wanting to tell everyone around me that "I got it!" The better for Solaris that I did, but unlike a similarly made movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, I wasn't driven up the wall to hate it with great passion. Maybe it's because Solaris (this 2002 version, at least), is mercifully short at 95 minutes, and the characters and direction are easier to watch.

Steven Soderbergh directing, George Clooney starring...what could go wrong? Uh, well, apparently audiences aren't in the mood for an out-of-this-world weeper that could have you interested, frustrated and bored if they don't care to decipher the indecipherable. Audiences are yawning or staying away, while critics rush to praise.

I side with the critics. I thought it was very well done and the acting was superb. I can see why some wouldn't like it, and have no intention of telling those who didn't that they're wrong. I just really liked how it was done, I liked the spacing and the sounds.

The studio marketed this movie really badly. The initial teaser had a creepy sci-fi feel, but then the commercials the last month have made it into a creepy love story. It's more of the latter. The film's not really science fiction, it just happens to take place in outer space. There are some fine graphics of the station and a few nifty gadgets, but there aren't any cool techno-explanations of the process and the film doesn't take the time to explain any history behind the planet Solaris or how we end up there. It's a love story first, sci-fi fifth.

I tried to watch the 1972 original on TCM last week, but turned away after the first 45 minutes (there was a full TEN minute sequence of riding a train through town) and never turned back. Soderbergh seems to borrow from the 1972 original, but with half the length. The shots are quick and jarring, many times from a noisy situation to a quiet one, with juxtaposition between brightness and dark, with blue tones on the station and copper in the real world, always with the artist's eye in looking for shapes and depth.

I could tell you what's happening, but I couldn't explain what's happening." So says Snow (Jeremy Davies), a gum-chewing and spaced-out (no pun intended) station tech who speaks in riddles. On the ship with him is Helen Gordon (Viola Davis), a strong black woman intent on defeating whatever is happening, no matter if what is happening does so with evil or peaceful intentions.

Clooney is "nihilistic shrink" Chris Kelvin, sent to a station orbiting a mysterious planet called Solaris, where scientists have been losing their minds over some sort of apparitions or hallucinations that have physical shape. Clooney is almost immediately seduced and allows himself to be manipulated by this woman, his deceased wife, a figure created by the planet below that looks and sounds as he remembers her. It makes it easier to accept her that she is conscience of not being real, and seeks knowledge with an innocence that draws the actual human to sympathize with his 'visitor.'

Love interest Rheya (Natascha McElhone) is so pretty, with huge round eyes that express everything with a simple movement of the pupil or slow blink that seems to take forever. It doesn't take more than one smile from her for the audience to completely agree with Clooney that she's a keeper. The initial puppy love between Clooney and McElhone is so sweet, all the world seems right and seemingly nothing can go wrong. Well, there wouldn't be a story unless something did, and it packs quite a punch.

As a result of Clooney's relationship with McElhone on the station, it doesn't seem that the planet is messing with his mind on purpose, just seeing how the people act and react, and even peacefully providing a loved friend or family member.

Poet Dylan Thomas plays a big part in Clooney and McElhone's relationship, especially the poem And Death Shall Have No Dominion, featuring the passage:

Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.

It's a quiet movie, which many moviegoers don't like, with a very solid score that is rare but passionate. I much liked that the plot took thought, that it was such a mystery, with a few twists to add some suspense and oomph to the 'happenings.'