Inception and Solaris Effect.

Christopher Nolan's movie inception is nothing but another (more original compared to 2002 film by Soderberg) version of one of the greatest features ever filmed in history - Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky.

If Soderberg literally made frame-by-frame remake than Nolan's version is more his own artistic vision. Soderberg's movie is like photocopy made with help of old xerox machine. The same pictures but less of original colour. Poetic movie by Tarkovsky transformed in american sci-fi. Sensative lonliness replaced by emptiness. Everything is dry and cold like in many of Soderberg's movies. That is may be why Ocean series is possibly the best thing he ever done in film, because there is at least some irony which changes matters aandwhich is in such a lack in Hollywood today.

Solaris by Tarkovsky is movie which enormously influenced the american industry. And even more correctly it is investigation of this movie which did it. Tarkovsky is too much great and original director to be repeated in style. According to Steven Dillon of Texas University Khari is a character representing the film itself. Not any particular, but the FILM. He constructed the whole book (Solaris Effect - Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film) around the idea of existance-nonexistance of this character. So by this way she represent the film wich is real in its resemblance to reality and with its visual apperances, but at the same time is not the reality. So I've read not so many books on theory I would rate this book as second among those I've read in the field by the intresting-boring scale, of course after Tarkovsky's Lessons.

So if Khari represents film than Lead Character by Donatas Banionis may represent the author. Author is a creatyre who suffers and whose feelings feed the creation - the Film. So Khari exists when his feelings about her exist. That is what becomes the spark for her embodiment.

Tarkovski in his Lessons said that it is better when the screenplay-writer (the author of the story) and director is the same person.

But contemporary Hollywood industry continues to lead itself to bigger specification and dividing of authorities which is evident managong solution when studious want to creat giant projects for movies. So in Nolan's movie Leonardo DiCaprio's characteris only author. The man who suffered a lot and has a story about it. But it is Ariadny (name most probably chosen with link to greek myth about labyrinth) character of Ellen Page who is director. Usually director is represented by the psychologist with unusual methods. He tries to understand the motivations of the author, tries to understand the tragedy of the author and by this way to interpret it. In this case it is architect who leads author through the maze of his consciousness and unconsciousness. Tarkovsky considered that psychoanalysis approach is not good enough. But this approach established itself like primal in western filmmaking.

Of course, the Architect in Nolan's movie is not far from the psychologist in Shutter Island. Ariadny tries to analyse the author and his story as an objects of investigation. It is not nessesary to tell that major line is the same as in the Solaris. Man can not forget his ex-wife who is not existing and who sees her real-unreal appearance over and over again. She even has tendention to worthless suicide the same way as vision of Khari.

Others in movie complement the movie crew. Saito is Producer. His aim is his business, but he doesn' t understand all the difficulty of the creation and what sufferings it needs.

- There is no room for tourists on these kinds of jobs.

Eames is an actor or the forger as good that he even act as woman (Talulah Riley provided her appearance for that). Levit's character is directors support. Caine's represent such a sane man that he is not participating in the creation (of the film). He is evidently academical teacher.

And finally Murphy's character is a viewer. All it is for him only. He is only real one. One who doesn't know about unreality. 

- She is not real. Fischer... Fischer is real.

Jos Stelling once said something like that film is not complete until viewer watches it. The aim of the crew is to create something which will influence his world through influencing his mind.

So now I think that Inception represent more developed (in system of its plot, not in sensativity and artistic merit) and more complicated version of Tarkovsky's Solaris. But the other side that this movie has nothing common in feeling with great movie by Tarkovsky. And it is also true that despite its strength in quality it won't make such influence as movies of Tarkovsky did or movies by Tarantino (who is director without education), because its originality is more about its surface its plot and visuals, but not about the core of film. It won't change the world. Frankly speaking, it represents less the influence of Solaris by Tarkovsky than the influence of acadenmical understanding and learning of Tarkovsky and the movie.