Tarkowksi was a really hard brick for me, although I have to admit, that the film has some kind of charme and of course the theme is interesting. In the german version there is some nice bonus material about the philosophical idea behind it. The guy explaning it, indeed does the weirdest stuff with copies of circles, inside out twisted paperbands, mirrows and other things regarding to the problem.
I can understand that the die hard art loving people don´t like the remake so much. But even then, the sountrack is great. I´d never come to the idea ordering the Elements Library, if I haven´t seen that film. A little bit of it you can also find in American Beauty ( which is a nice one as well by the way).
So in the end the Solaris Original is an interesting film, but was no fun watching for me.
(Although far from worst cases like "Die Liebenden von Pont Neuf" or "Die unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins". I´ll never forget the comment in the cinema : "If this is the main actor, we´re fucked - and it was the main actor.... [:)] ).
When you name Kubrik and available-light photography, you should absolutely see Barry Lyndon. It´s not as popular as 2001, but an excellent demonstration what´s possible without using artificial light. Kubrik intensively searched for a special lens with extreme aperture made by Zeiss ( F=1:1.0 or even below with some optical tricks). The scenes shot under candle light are unbelievably beautiful - and the film itself is great as well.
By the way , Buck Turgidson ... wasn´t that the fancy guy in Dr. Strangelove ?
Also an absolutely brilliant piece ( Ct J.D. Ripper is so great in it .....)