THERE ARE SOME PLACES MAN IS NOT READY TO GO.

Psychiatrist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) goes to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris where the crew have had strange encounters; soon Chris’s dead wife (Natascha McElhone) appears to him.

The remake of Tarkovsky’s 1972 sci-fi classic is significantly shorter and focuses entirely on the emotions of a relationship that has ended tragically; the memories, the grief and the dangerous temptation of holding on to all that forever.

Interesting, but a lot less gripping than the original; we never feel entirely involved in the Kelvin marriage. 

2002-U.S. 99 min. Color. Widescreen. Written, directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh. Novel: Stanislaw Lem. Cast: George Clooney (Chris Kelvin), Natascha McElhone (Rheya), Jeremy Davis (Snow), Viola Davis, Ulrich Tukur, John Cho. 

Trivia: Co-produced by James Cameron, who considered directing the film with Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead.