SOLARIS (2002)
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A space station orbiting the planet Solaris is home to some freaky stuff, and a widower psychologist (George Clooney) visits to learn that the dead are walking — but not in a spooky way, in a metaphysically challenging way.
WHY IT DOESN'T WORK: It's a slow go, man. Watching a person wrestle with his own demons made manifest works on the page (like the 1961 Stanislaw Lem novel) or when it's directed by Russians (as in the 1972 sci-fi classic, which is also a little tough to sit through) — but I think American audiences want more to happen in their sci-fi, even if it's coming from Steven Soderbergh. I know I did.
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