2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  10 / 10

  2001: A Space Odyssey is ambiguous, minimalistic and quite frankly a masterpiece. Oh my word what did I just witness!? Can we all just take a moment and appreciate that this was conceived in 1968. 1968! We haven't had nearly enough decent films that matches this caliber in the last 10 years! There is so much to talk about. This was bursting with themes ranging from human evolution to existentialism. I just went on a journey of self-discovery whilst watching this, when each of the four acts were shown I thought to myself: "This. This is why I love film." Films can be entertaining and stupid, but then you get the rare breed where it makes you think...makes you wonder...makes you question! Stanley Kubrick is a solid director, no question about it. He takes his time behind the camera, if a character is floating in space we will certainly watch a whole minute of it without cutting. And some of this techniques! Ohhhh my word, particularly the gravity defying scenes where the camera is static but the rest of the room is rotating. It's just breathtaking. The four act structure was interesting. The first act showed us a group of apes becoming territorial and discovering a extraterrestrial monolith. The second act shows some board members from a company touch down on the lunar surface where another monolith is discovered (same one perhaps?). The third act is a journey to Jupiter where man is against artificial intelligence (HAL 9000). The fourth act well, an ambiguous film like this must have a weird stylish ending. Is the monolith some sort of God as it oversees human evolution? Is the final scene the start of new life? Or perhaps is the whole film an allegory from birth to death? So many questions, so little answers. One thing's for sure, this film was way ahead of its time. This may not appeal to the average moviegoer, Kubrick showcased his various film techniques for us cinephiles and the ambiguity leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Yes, 2001 gets the perfect rating. Masterpiece.

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