éoums (12) 99min 0000

One of the most thought-provoking and moving films of the year

Those familiar with Tarkovsky’s 1972 adaptation of Stanislaw Lem‘s novel might well approach an American remake of this classic of Soviet film with some trepidation. The wild, elliptical, metaphysical speculations at the centre of the film, its languors and reflections, are hard to imagine in a Hollywood frame. But any fear of the replacement of a classic by a special-effects fest is quickly dispelled in this truncated, but still very effective new version of the novel, demonstrating once again, as if it were needed, the enormous versatility of Steven Soderbergh.

Soderbergh’s screenplay compresses the first hour of Tarkovsky’s film into ten minutes, sending psychologist Kelvin (George Clooney) off to the troubled space station orbiting the planet of the title early on. Here, he arrives too late to save the life of his friend Gibarian (Ulrich Tukor), who has committed suicide. The two surviving crew members, Snow (Jeremy Davies) and Gordon (Viola Davis) are affected by a debilitating neurosis, subject, ostensibly, to delusions and wild mood swings. Within a short time, Kelvin too begins to suffer, as his wife Rheya (Natasha McElhone) - who committed suicide years before - appears, and is as real as Kelvin himself. The planet itself seems to create, in flesh and blood, the manifestations of each of the crew’s own consciences and emotions.

Soderbergh has overcome the urge to force the pace, creating an eerie and reflexive dramatic tension with stationary camera work and close-ups. Clooney himself gives a tremendous performance, his character's dark intensity and even physical appearance often echoing, but never imitating Donatas Banionis’ character in Tarkovsky’s version. Jeremy Davies' freaked out scientist is also compelling, adding flashes of humour to the character's ramblings.

You wonder, though, whether the real star isn’t the affecting and clever electronic score by Cliff Martinez, which interweaves deftly with the contrasting semi-dream landscape memories of earth and the technological oppressiveness of the space station.

If this version can't quite measure up to Tarkovsky‘ s original, that is no great insult, for few films do. In its exploration of subjectivity, selfhood and desire, this amounts to one of the most thought- provoking and moving films of the year. (Steve Cramer)

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