Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is now re-released in cinemas, and after Christopher Nolan’s flawed and heartfelt voyage in Interstellar, it is salutary to revisit the film which invented so many of its tropes and ideas. Maybe only rocket science and deep space could absorb Kubrick’s famous coldness and control and tendency to visionary gigantism. It has become customary to place 2001 in a challenging or dark or dystopian sci-fi tradition as opposed to the all-conqueringly sucrose Star Wars. Actually, 2001 doesn’t exactly fit that first camp either: something in its mandarin blankness and balletic vastness, and refusal to trade in the emollient dramatic forms of human interest and human sympathy. Kubrick leaves usual considerations behind with his readiness to imagine a post-human future. For all its sentimentality, Steven Spielberg’s film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (a project once nursed by Kubrick) is nearer in spirit to 2001 than Interstellar. And at one remove, Steven Soderbergh’s intelligent, respectful remake of Tarkovsky’s Solaris in 2002 has some trace elements. This chance to see 2001 on the big screen shouldn’t be missed.
Interstellar v 2001: A Space Odyssey: worlds apart or on the same planet?
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion