similar movies - Solaris (2002) Discussion

[–] Li-1 13 years ago

If you're wanting to watch other very moody and atmospheric, cerebral sci-fi films set in space, you could try the original Solaris. There is, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is the most influential film of its genre ever made. For more recent films, you could try Sunshine, The Fountain, or Cargo. None of these are "Hollywood" in style, and only The Fountain is actually a U.S. production.

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[–] ExpandUrMind 13 years ago

Thanks for the recommendations!

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[–] Defenseman13 13 years ago

Mulholland Drive.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/

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[–] therant 13 years ago

Mulholland Drive and Soliaris are nothing alike. Yes, they do share the confusing and ambiguous storytelling but I find that they are universes apart.

From the sci-fi point of view I would have to recommend the already stated Moon and, if you haven't already seen them Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

My daddy has a shovel!

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[–] DrWhen 13 years ago

I dunno. I can imagine Mulholland Drive with the same basic story but with a scifi backdrop .

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[–] SwissCheeze 11 years ago

...? Mulholland drive is way more similar to Solaris than Alien.

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[–] creaturefeeture 13 years ago

Definitely The Fountain.
Also Blade Runner.

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[–] mrstevo75 13 years ago

Moon.

Incredible movie!

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[–] scofthe7seas 13 years ago

Totally, Moon. Way great movie, I was stunned by it. Very very similar feeling to Solaris, which I also love.

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[–] twelvepointnine 13 years ago

Test pilota Pirxa (also based on a Lem novel)
Kurôn wa kokyô wo mezasu (The Clone Returns Home)

Chaos reigns

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[–] DrWhen 13 years ago

Naked Lunch is a trip.

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[–] fuzzy_maiden 13 years ago

Try: Passengers & the Road. Both are slow paced emotionally driven. Passengers is not what it seems at face value, the ending explains it all....

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[–] quaseye 13 years ago

As others have said, Moon is definitely one you should watch. I would recommend Gattaca.

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[–] StrontiumAE 13 years ago

Gattaca and 2001. Both are minimalist, devoid of action and just well writen.

Review AE http://www.reviewae.blogspot.com & http://ireview-ae.blogspot.com

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[–] Adrian67 13 years ago

There are 2 similar movies that I can think of,

Event Horizon

Sphere

Both of these films also have the crew witnessing bizarre incarnations and things they may just be imagining with a frightening reality.

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[–] outofvogue18 13 years ago

Futurama has a series of episodes (basically a movie) titled "The Beast with a Billion Backs." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama:_The_Beast_with_a_Billion_Backs) It deals with a creature similar to Solaris and in my opinion shares that ideal of looking for meaning. It obviously is very comedic, but i feel that the writers based this series on Solaris or were inspired by it in some way.

2010 (Odyssey Two) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_%28film%29: which isn't mentioned by other posters, but is extremely comparable to Solaris in that Bowman (who supposedly died in 2001) actually appears and talks to Floyd, Bowman is basically the alien monolith's puppet in a way, similar to how Solaris sends the visitors.

Other movies that are comparable are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Immortal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314063/), Donnie Darko has some similarities, Event Horizon, and Moon.

More good sci-fi's to watch are Pandorum, Imposter, THX 1138, Mission to Mars.

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[–] anakin_darth 13 years ago

The I Inside, Eyes Wide Shut, Vanilla Sky, Shutter Island, The Man From Earth, Inception, Dark City, American Beauty, Fight Club, Primal Fear, Brothers, Melancholia, Closer, Existenz, Triangle, Repo Men, Requiem For A Dream, Hero, The Departed, Memento, A Clockwork Orange etc. Not all these movies has the same reality twists, but I would say that all mentioned above have unexpected elements in them, so I think you would all agree to a certain degree at least! I've gone after the feeling of curiosity and depressed mood I've felt after every ending of the mentioned films.

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[–] a-tammuzkhah 9 years ago

i just loved your list of great movies! i love them all and somehow they are similar to this movie.

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[–] anakin_darth 9 years ago

Thanks! I appreciate your comment :) if you haven't seen "The Double" (2013) yet, I recommend it! The mood, twist and ending resembles the other mentioned films. "The Enemy" (2013) and "Under the Skin" (2013) are also strange but fascinating films.

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[–] a-tammuzkhah 9 years ago

thank you ;) i'll watch them.

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[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Simon-140 11 years ago

OutofVogue18, I think "The Beast with a Billion Backs" Futurama episodes were actually parodies of a Japanese anime called "Urotsukidoji," or of the "tentacle porn" genre that this film helped to spawn.

I haven't seen "Urotsukidoji," but I have seen a few brief clips from it that suggested that the writers of Futurama have seen every frame. And why not ...

If you google "tentacle porn" it'll take you to the Wikipedia's "Tentacle Erotica" page. After reading that, you might be left with the same impression as me: that Japanese women fantasize about being ravished by octopuses, in a thoroughly consensual way; or at least that Japanese men (and manga artists, when they're not pioneering new ways of drawing barely pubescent girl's underpants and ways for these underpants to be exposed in naturalistic manners and settings) fantasize about (young) Japanese women fantasizing about being ravished by octopuses.

You might also get the impression that "Urotsukidoji" broke new ground by satisfying the pent-up demand for cross-species, tentacle-based erotica that had been so bothering (young) Japanese ladies - or Japanese men fantasising about the mutual fantasies of Japanese girlhood and (young) womanhood.

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[–] eholzapfel26 11 years ago

Another movie that isn't similar in many respects, but has some strikingly similar elements as Solaris is Star Trek the Motion Picture.
Don't know if it borrowed from Solaris, but V-ger has the nearly omnipotent power to duplicate virtually anything and it recreates Ilya in much the same way as Solaris recreates dead humans. (Unfortunately, V-ger kills Ilya before remaking her. But Decker's relationship to the reborn Ilya is similar to that of the lovers in Solaris.)
There are similar themes as well - what do Solaris / V-ger want? Are they trying to bond with man? Is it a God-mind trying to become human, is it an infant-mind trying to find completeness via the human soul?

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[–] TheDarkRiddler 11 years ago

To add to what others have said: Another Earth (2011)
Excellent movie

"Now you're John Hammond" -- Formerly known as Spooky.

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