Interstellar

Interstellar

The title of Christopher Nolan’s grand space opera would put the critics at ease, for it is none other than heartbreaking grandiosity: it is the most ambitious and pretentious structure out there, the exact parallel to the ship and the film Titanic. The silver lining is that this visually fascinating, yet at times perplexing narrative that deals with wormholes and black holes does not collapse, under the mass of anticipation; if spectacle is what one craves, then feel free to indulge because Interstellar certainly provides that, especially in a 70mm IMAX which Nolan seems to prefer.

But while the huge weak point of the film is inertia gravitational force drawing in people hence the film is a sure box office hit aiming to appeal the masses, fans of Nolan’s best movies like Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Inception would appreciate the film more, however, as it misses some narrative discipline and clarity due to unnecessary pieces that appeal to emotion and plain stupidity hijacking what is supposed to be a very personal piece. I, being a Nolanoid, was quite transfixed, at times breathless and other times, well, just shocked.

Seamlessly amalgamating his own semi-formed stories about space travel with a single joke about a script his brother Jonathan (‘Jonah’) was working on, Nolan has a long gestating space drama that has always been in the works. Is there a place in the future for mankind? Certainly if one were to heed Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie’s 1933 novel When Worlds Collide, many scientist are currently working on the potential construction of space arcs, enormous ships that would transport millions of people to a new destination; so long as the problem of gravitational force stays unwelcoming to them, as suggested by professor Brand (Michael Caine).

Sooner or later, the humans will certainly discover the answers to their weaknesses and take to the stars, but first mankind will certainly bring great havoc to their own planet, including star pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who has now turned into a farmer, but in this particular psychological scenario, he is haunted by phantasm and is eager to find the next suitable sustenance for every human being.

What follows next is the brutal combination of The Haunting, Slaughterhouse Five, Silent Running, Event Horizon and Aliens, and Inception. The visual motions in the film are surprisingly similar to concepts seen in a dream, which is the case where to experience an entire hour here would take years outside.

Though it may be easy to note 2001 because of the associations of Kubrick that follow anything with a multidimensional star gate, the book that seems to have been the inspiration and has a re-enactment of earthbound sighing scenes in interstellar is the 1997 film Contact based on the novel by Carl Sagan where McConaughey is also leading. Robert Zemeckis, who directed the 1997 film, also focused on a daughter who is desperate for her father who is likely roaming somewhere in the galaxy. This has always been the film’s central theme.

In both stories it is these daughters who are the ones who spot the first signs of the ‘alien’ contact: Ellie Arroway played by Jodie Foster spots repetitive patterns in the background noise of interstellar radiation in Contact; and in Interstellar, Murph very stunningly played at her young age by Mackenzie Foy sees mores code in the interferences of poltergeists. And so from such findings are missions undertaken where one crosses the vastness of space and time at the behest of some Unknown intelligence with Hansen hands across the cosmos throwing ‘scattered’ signals.

The intergalactic distances are shallowed. The dimension is split into two. Science and Religion shake hands. It is important to note that despite the presence of such demonstratives as astrogates in history, the constant in both accounts is love, not time, space or even gravity. More than once I recalled Contact’s Ellie at the edge of the universe: “They should have sent a poet”. As far as I understand, that is exactly what they have done to Nolan through the stars.

Interstellar, although its dialogue is quite clunky, (Would it even be necessary to explain wormholes to an astronaut just as he approached them?) and plot is out of proportion (I can only accept the final 15 minutes if it is a dream. However, it appears that this is not the case), is the result of a person who dreams with their eyes open. No one in the shooting of the present day cinema is as much atheistic to rationalism and as much believes in the pictorial supremacy as Nolan does and expect their audience to share the same awe.

Just like Trumbull (the one who created memorable effects for 2001), Nolan predominantly deals with light, and we can trace his love towards motion pictures somewhat right to the beginning of the big screen where in 1902, Méliès sent the audience to the moon in a movie. With Insterstellar, it brings a link to a century of great movies and awe-inspiring films such as The Ten Commandments, The Robe and Ben-Hur which left audiences in shock with the volume and scale of the imagery. In Blade Runner, Roy Batty states, “I have seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”

It is this possible degradation of storytelling viewer may say how it is going to affect them which is an interesting ongoing discussion.

Critics and audiences were not kind to this film a few years back, Transcendence, a debut of Nolan’s long-time cinematographer, Pfister (who is now replaced by veteran Hoyte van Hoytema) which was ridiculed as ‘Inception lite’ by many film critics. However, there is nothing in Pfister’s naïvely excessive direction in the virtually unshackled directorial debut that is any more silly than the entirely predictable Nolan’s latest twists and turns and what have you. However, as

Gravity seems to be less sophisticated in a more philosophical sense, however, it is equally compelling (and perhaps exceeded the rationale behind visual effects) in comparison to Interstellar. Things do get a little crazy and Nolan’s regular composer Hans Zimmer certainly has it under control and creates a haunting score which goes from creepy ‘70s Goblin Dario Argento mid-period horror to thunderous pristine Church Organ sounding huge Hallelujah’s.

While the final result is, with respect, not the highest point in compilation of Nolan’s greatest career rejoices, in any case, it retains him the most prominent place blockbuster director Howard, who is able to develop a single idea throughout the entire monster work of a team in the style of Spielberg, Cameron, and Kubrick: “Whose subconscious are we in?”, asked Ellen Page in Inception, the response will always be the same, there is a distinctively Nolan’s touch towards the answer.

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