by Peter Morris in Los Angeles on 13th February 2003
OK this is not an easy sell despite having the always interesting STEVEN SODERBERGH behind the camera and the always watchable GEORGE CLOONEY in front of it! Confused now? Well I suspect many of you will be after watching the film too.
This is a remake of a 1960s Russian sci fi classic- according to sci fi fans. I like a bit of sci fi but I‘m not expert and I have to admit I‘d never heard of it before so didn‘t know what to expect.
So what did I get? Well I got GEORGE CLOONEY doing some serious acting and some serious introspection. He plays a psychiatrist whose wife has killed herself, he‘s then asked by a friend to travel to a distant space station to try and help understand some of the strange things that have been happening to the crew. When he gets there only two of them are left but he and they are quickly joined by what appears to be his dead wife played by NATASCHA MCELHONE ( "The Truman Show", "Ronin").
As the plot continues CLOONEY has to revisit his feelings about his wife and her death and figure out whether he wants to grasp a second chance.
I‘ll be honest with you although this film is very thought-provoking and beautifully shot (SODERBERGH acted as Cinematographer, Director, producer and editor!) it will be slow for an awful lot of people - there are sections of the film with no dialogue for up to ten minutes! I was fortunate enough to interview STEVEN SODERBERGH about the film after a screening and felt much better about it after having done so- you, unfortunately, won‘t have that pleasure and will have to make up your own minds.
The few words of wisdom that I have time and space to pass on here from him are. There are no right answers .. only choices. I hope that helps.
The marketeers in America weren‘t sure how to sell this one and much to the chagrin of Messrs CLOONEY and SODERBERGH dwelt heavily on the fact that George‘s naked bum appears in shot twice which led to the American censors giving it an "R" rating- which was later changed on appeal to a "PG-13" which was far more appropriate.
Oh and by the way in case anybody was still in doubt CLOONEY can act.
UK Release: 28th February 2003
Celebrities Worldwide Rating: 7 out of 10 (for sci fi and film buffs)
Celebrities Worldwide Rating: 5.5 out of 10 (for everyone else)
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
