On December 26, one of the most famous films directed by Andrei Tarkovsky will be released in 70 cities of Russia. It is a movie adaptation of the novel “Solaris” written by a Polish writer, Stanislav Lem. The film was first released in 1972. Immediately after the premiere, it received recognition from the general public and positive reviews from critics both in the USSR and abroad. This is proved by such awards as the Special Jury Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1972 International Cannes Film Festival, the Prize at the XXVIII International Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 1972, etc. Also, the picture is often recognized as one of the best science fiction movies in the history of cinema. Interestingly, the author of the original source did not accept Tarkovsky’s work.
The plot of the film tells a story about the interaction of people with an alien mind discovered on the distant planet Solaris. Like many other Tarkovsky’s films, the main theme of Solaris is various existential problems of a person, such as awareness of self-hatred or acceptance of one’s own fears. The main roles were played by Sergei Bondarchuk’s daughter, Natalia, the famous Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis, one of the regular actors in Tarkovsky’s films, Anatoly Solonitsyn, as well as Yuri Yarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky and Nikolai Grinko.
Restoration of “Solaris” has been carried out at the Mosfilm studio since 2011. Such a long period is a standard for films released more than 40-50 years ago. All defects of the old movie should be eliminated by specialists manually: color correction and sound recording errors. To achieve maximum quality after the restoration, professionals have been working on old materials for years. In addition, “Solaris” is the second restored Tarkovsky’s film in the last year. In October 2018, his 1979 film “Stalker” was released for re-rental. It was about a journey to a mystical room located in a certain forbidden zone. According to rumors, any human desire could be fulfilled there. Just like Solaris, the dramatic parable quickly became a cult and was awarded at the International Cannes Film Festival. Anton Dolin, an editor of the “Cinema Art” magazine, noted that Tarkovsky is one of the few representatives of Soviet cinema whose films still regularly resonate with young people. And not only in Russia: “Stalker” is regularly included in the list of 250 best films according to users of the world’s largest cinema website IMDB. At the moment, the picture is on 181 place. That is why, Dolin believes that the re-releasing of such films on the big screen is justified.
