Interstellar (2014) — Read Along
“It was me Murph, I was your ghost”
It’s a strange pleasure being a film fan sometimes. An unabashed and wholly myopic fan of the films directed by Christopher Nolan, I’ve classified “Interstellar” as my third overall favourite film from the London born filmmaker but it really floats and interchanges with “Inception”, a better film, but this has far more human heart and so pips it into third place in my all time affections. Ask me tomorrow, and I’ll have reversed this position once more! Tomorrow. Yesterday.
Today.
It’s all mere time in a Christopher Nolan world of time, time, time.
Wherever Interstellar currently resides within my own personal chart, it sits in 20th place on the www.imdb.com chart of the 250 greatest films of all time and is one of four Christopher Nolan films in the top 50 alone, together with “The Dark Knight” (3rd), “Inception” (14th) and “The Prestige” (43rd).
Four further Nolan gems make it eight films from his current catalogue of twelve in the internet movie database chart, with the astonishing and personal all time favourite “Memento” in 57th place, “The Dark Knight Rises” in 71st, “Oppenheimer” in 97th place and “Batman Begins” at 130th.
8 from 12 films in the top 130 ranked films of all time?
Time. Time.
Time.
My instant reaction and spoiler free review of “Interstellar” follows, written as part of a much larger opus article on the entire career of director Christopher Nolan nearly a decade ago, together with my Youtube and Rumble channel video recordings of my reading of my review direct to camera late last year.
“We used to look up into the stars and wonder”
Well the wait is finally over! Two interminably long years since wrapping his “Batman” trilogy, Christopher Nolan has finally gone into space and off world via the unexplainable scientific mediums of the space time continuum, wormholes and black holes. Co-written with his brother Jonathan, Nolan also served as Producer as well as helming this latest cinematic wonder and a wonder it is, lest it has numerous minor flaws. Watching from the dark confines of your local picture house is the only place to see “Interstellar”, and on the biggest screen possible for it is a magnificent, immersive and an almost operatic achievement.
However, it’s the first Christopher Nolan film that I haven’t instantly fallen in love with but I do greatly admire the astounding cinematic achievement in yet again producing a film that continues to break boundaries and expand the sense of what is possible as well as challenging an audience, filling it full of wonder, adventure and dreams whilst juxtaposing these themes with frustration, isolation, desolation and the eerie silence of outer space. There are clearly nods to M Night Shyamalan’s mysterious “Signs”, Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact” and huge inspiration has been taken from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” but Nolan has also referenced back to his own incredible film of four years previously, “Inception” with its continuous time shifts whilst challenging the possibility of time itself, its constituents and its limitations.
“Interstellar” is far more than a simple dying earth/outer space story as Nolan again leans on many of the themes he’s employed in his previous films as he explores the concepts of reality, time and the Machiavellian principle of the end justifying the means. But above all it’s another Nolan film with human beings and the human spirit at the core of his film, of a Father’s love for his family and his determination for their continued survival.
With a very keen eye on plot spoilers, the premise of the film as a whole sees a post apocalyptic near future earth on the verge of dying, ravaged by dust storms and with crops failing, food is fast running out. This is established very early in the film in one of it’s many narrative strands that intertwine throughout the film as the narrative weaves from present day to future “talking heads” sequences describing the horrors of living in the dust storms, through to the Kubrick inspired space voyages. The concept of time is always prevalent as the earth is simply running out of time, “Professor Brand” (Michael Caine) is “afraid of time” while trying to manipulate it through his many scientific theories in his capacity at NASA. When “Cooper” (Matthew McConaughey) and daughter “Murph” (Mackenzie Foy) “stumble” upon the earth’s “best kept secret” they soon discover that NASA has been working in secret on a space exploration project which is ready for launch and ready to seek planets that can sustain future human lives. However “they”, and whoever “they” may be, are also manipulating time through dimensions, wormholes and black holes and have seemingly directed Cooper, an accomplished pilot, into NASA and into a life changing decision: Does he embrace his adventurous spirit and guide the Endurance spaceship interstellar, or does he remain on Earth with the family he loves and adores?
Following his Oscar winning performance in “Dallas Buyers Club” and star turns in “Magic Mike” and “Killer Joe”, Matthew McConaughey excels as the All American Hero Cooper, struggling to raise crops on a dying earth as well as raising two young children with only his gruff, disillusioned Father in Law “Donald” (John Lithgow) to help him. Cooper is fiercely protective of his young children and both Murph (a brilliant, heart breaking performance from Mackenzie Foy) and “Tom” (Timothee Chalamet) share their Father’s spirit as Tom is determined to drive the family farming business despite the inherent problems and his younger sister shares her Father’s dreams and aspirations. The concept of time pervades every narrative strand of the film and this is never more prescient than when our intrepid interstellar heroes, joined by “Amelia” (Anne Hathaway) a NASA scientist, visit prospective earth friendly and viable planets.
Time accelerates rapidly compared to life on earth with every hour spent exploring a prospective planet spanning many earth years, but rather than any further plot spoilers I will simply add that this concept, whilst one of many of the film’s themes, introduces the audience to many supporting and cameo roles during the film’s near three hour run time. Jessica Chastain is superb as the older Murph, still mourning her Father’s absence but seemingly determined to follow in his footsteps, Casey Affleck supports her ably as her older brother (in every sense) Tom, and Matt Damon performs well as disillusioned “Dr Mann”. Any further character exposition will simply hint at spoilers and this is not my intention of this appraisal.
So, 24 hours after seeing “Interstellar”, is it any good?
The simple answer is a categorical yes and an overwhelming and stunning achievement. The early set piece on earth of the drone chase is a wonderful early example to live up to but where “Interstellar” comes into it’s own is in the spinning chasm of outer space and the eerie silence that envelops it. Regular Editor Lee Smith excels throughout and huge credit must be paid to Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography as he brings to life a dusty, arid earth with a “dry”, colour drained lens before capturing space in league with his contemporary Emmanuel Lubezki in Alfonso Cuaron’s multi Oscar winning “Gravity”.
Oscars will surely follow here too, for Van Hoytema’s cinematography, Nathan Crowley’s production design and Hans Zimmer’s eclectic and beautiful musical score. However the greatest praise lies with Director Nolan for producing yet another thought provoking film of weighty ideas shrouded in the science of quantum physics, the dimensions of time, space and relativity without losing the heart of the story, a human story of existence and of an adventurous spirit bound by the love of the families we all cherish.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
