Top 250

Solaris (1972)
Number 241 on IMDb's Top 250

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. Hilarity ensues when he also encounters his wife who has been dead for seven years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence.

Trivia: This was the most widely seen of Andrei Tarkovsky's films outside of the Soviet Union. However, Tarkovsky himself reportedly considered it the least favorite of the films he directed. The extended scene following Berton as he rides back to the city was filmed in Osaka and Tokyo. Foreign travel was not easily approved, and the reason this long scene was left in the movie was probably to justify that trip for the director and crew (Seriously, that shot was like 10 minutes long, just driving, no dialog). A Japanese city circa 1970 may not look very futuristic to modern audiences, but its impression on Soviet viewers at that time of the film's release was probably quite different. Tarkovski's diary reveals that they just missed the World's Fair, and they may have planned to shoot footage at it that would have looked far more futuristic.

Much better then the Clooney version. This movie actually filled out the story that the remake couldn't. Yes, it is slow, some times excruciatingly slow. But you get into the main character's thoughts better and the motivations of the crew are better defined. Yes, Clooney's version was "prettier" with the glowing gaseous tendrils around the planet, but this was more of a story. Now, in my opinion it probably not Top 250 worthy, but it was still good. It was just slow (a full hour longer then the Clooney version). Well this is the second Russian film I have seen and both have been Sci-Fi, go figure.