Movie review: Interstellar - 20,000 leagues over the sea
The perfect movie may be a myth but Interstellar comes dangerously close
There is a myth that there is a movie so near perfect that it makes you oscillate between the edge of your seat and the cusp of an epiphany. It moves you and leaves you in awe of the magic it creates. Interstellar is that movie. Christopher Nolan has orbited the stratosphere of filmmakers like Tarkovsky and Kubrick and the ultimate magician, Méliès. To label Interstellar as science fiction would be misdirected. It is ultimately a love letter by a father to his daughter.
The single most definitive message of the movie is about love transcending time and space, two relative concepts that challenge the breadth and scope of human knowledge and experience. It is an audacious movie that is more personal than any other that Nolan has written or directed before. What started as mind-bending narratives on earth with Memento and the exploration of the deepest recesses of the mind in Inception has culminated in a narrative that explores the existential and moralistic identity borne though an emotion that is not quantifiable and yet holds the promise of more things than we can dream of.
Interstellar is set in a dystopian future where food is scarce and lives expendable. Cooper, a former NASA test pilot-turned-farmer, lives with his father-in-law, son and precocious daughter, Murphy. She believes there is a poltergeist in her room and this ultimately leads Cooper to a secret NASA facility led by Professor Brand played by Sir Michael Caine. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper to heartbreaking perfection as the father fighting for the survival of his family by venturing into space and exploring the black hole in search of a planet habitable by the last remaining population on earth. He sets off the aptly named Endurance with biologist Amelia (Anne Hathaway), physicist Romilly (David Gyasi), geographer Doyle (Wes Bentley) and two artificially intelligent robots, TARS and CASE.
Cooper’s decision to join Endurance breaks Murphy’s heart, and they part on bad terms. The monologue delivered by McConaughey to Murphy could easily be Nolan himself and the honesty behind it makes it even more gut wrenching. The rest of the movie is a metaphorical struggle between what parents need to do to ensure the future of their children as opposed to what they want to do in the present. The film can get sentimental at times, but never trite. The Nolan brothers have perfected the art of making things come full circle, much like the black hole itself.
Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck star as the adult Murphy and her brother, Tom on Earth. They have grown up to be the mirror halves of their father, with Tom working on what is left of the crops and Murphy working to solve Professor Brand’s equation at NASA. The genius of the narrative and the director himself will be evidenced at the two-hour mark of the official runtime, so you have to wait patiently, much like if you were watching Tarkovsky’s Solaris or Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Hoyt Van Hoytema has photographed this movie with the masterful stroke of an artist. He gives the movie heart with visuals that allow you to immerse yourself into the narrative without calling attention to them. Hans Zimmer’s score pulsates with an aching heart and adds an emotional depth to the film.
This movie is not without its faults. It is sentimental and most Nolan fans will find that unrecognisable since the director is often accused of being cold and aloof. That’s why Interstellar is near-perfect and not perfect. And like the movie, this review will loop back onto itself. The perfect movie is a myth. Some come close, some stray far. It is relative in the end. If it were perfect, Nolan would pack up because he wouldn’t have anything else to say. Someone try telling Christopher Nolan that. Or don’t. Good things always happen when he does things his way.
Vivan J Xavier is a cinematographer. He tweets @vivianjxavier
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 23rd, 2014.
The single most definitive message of the movie is about love transcending time and space, two relative concepts that challenge the breadth and scope of human knowledge and experience. It is an audacious movie that is more personal than any other that Nolan has written or directed before. What started as mind-bending narratives on earth with Memento and the exploration of the deepest recesses of the mind in Inception has culminated in a narrative that explores the existential and moralistic identity borne though an emotion that is not quantifiable and yet holds the promise of more things than we can dream of.
Interstellar is set in a dystopian future where food is scarce and lives expendable. Cooper, a former NASA test pilot-turned-farmer, lives with his father-in-law, son and precocious daughter, Murphy. She believes there is a poltergeist in her room and this ultimately leads Cooper to a secret NASA facility led by Professor Brand played by Sir Michael Caine. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper to heartbreaking perfection as the father fighting for the survival of his family by venturing into space and exploring the black hole in search of a planet habitable by the last remaining population on earth. He sets off the aptly named Endurance with biologist Amelia (Anne Hathaway), physicist Romilly (David Gyasi), geographer Doyle (Wes Bentley) and two artificially intelligent robots, TARS and CASE.
Cooper’s decision to join Endurance breaks Murphy’s heart, and they part on bad terms. The monologue delivered by McConaughey to Murphy could easily be Nolan himself and the honesty behind it makes it even more gut wrenching. The rest of the movie is a metaphorical struggle between what parents need to do to ensure the future of their children as opposed to what they want to do in the present. The film can get sentimental at times, but never trite. The Nolan brothers have perfected the art of making things come full circle, much like the black hole itself.
Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck star as the adult Murphy and her brother, Tom on Earth. They have grown up to be the mirror halves of their father, with Tom working on what is left of the crops and Murphy working to solve Professor Brand’s equation at NASA. The genius of the narrative and the director himself will be evidenced at the two-hour mark of the official runtime, so you have to wait patiently, much like if you were watching Tarkovsky’s Solaris or Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Hoyt Van Hoytema has photographed this movie with the masterful stroke of an artist. He gives the movie heart with visuals that allow you to immerse yourself into the narrative without calling attention to them. Hans Zimmer’s score pulsates with an aching heart and adds an emotional depth to the film.
This movie is not without its faults. It is sentimental and most Nolan fans will find that unrecognisable since the director is often accused of being cold and aloof. That’s why Interstellar is near-perfect and not perfect. And like the movie, this review will loop back onto itself. The perfect movie is a myth. Some come close, some stray far. It is relative in the end. If it were perfect, Nolan would pack up because he wouldn’t have anything else to say. Someone try telling Christopher Nolan that. Or don’t. Good things always happen when he does things his way.
Vivan J Xavier is a cinematographer. He tweets @vivianjxavier
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 23rd, 2014.