MOVIE REVIEW: 2001: A Space Odyssey

For me, a movie is primarily a visual experience.

When I watch a movie i ask two questions to back up this idea. Is there a strong visual component? More importantly, does the movie provide a true experience? It doesn't get any simpler than that. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, more than any other film i have ever seen, is the bench mark for the motion picture visual experience. 2001 is also a film made to challenge most anybody who sees it. It is a piece of art, a technical marvel and a quiet warning.

The first time I saw 2001, i thought what most people think when they see 2001 for the first time. "What the fuck was that?" While I don't quite recall the year, i surmise my age was somewhere in the range of 13 or 14 years old. Having a then frequent bout of insomnia to deal with, i channel surfed around the darker hours of the night and came upon a showing of the film on TBS, of all stations.

Only now as a photographer and somewhat opinionated cinematography critic can I reflect on the torrid conditions of this viewing. However, back then I didn't know any better. The print was an absolute abomination. There was grain and desaturation in the reproduction. Though originally photographed in wide 2.20:1 70mm, was cropped to full-screen 4x3 aspec ratio of television. This is akin to listening to Le Nozze di Figaro between two red cups held together by a white piece of string a mile long. Yet even in that mangled form, the film held its power, it definitely got under my skin.

So the Strauss piece comes on and earth is revealed with the titles from beyond the moon and the film begins. Several hours later I sat staring at a black screen with flashing credits above the Blue Danube. A strange feeling crept over me. i really had no idea what i had seen. This was one of only two times in my life in which after seeing a movie I had no idea if I liked it or not.

After several hours of clicking through late-night infomercials made specifically for insomniacs like myself, the film sank deeper into my conscious and I made up my mind.

I hated it.

For several years, I would say "2001 is a piece of crap." For years I continually professed how horrible the film was. Those words, i would gladly eat now. The years rolled on and I believe at 18 or so I saw a presentation on Turner Classic Movies. This time when the credits rolled, I knew what I felt. This film was good, really fucking good.

2001 is completely unlike any film before or since. Both visually and psychologically. There is absolutely no exposition, and yet it works. This is a film that challenges you only to think, nothing more.

There is no need to go into the "deeper meaning" of 2001, what it is, may be, or could be. By all accounts, the movie tells the tale of human evolution by the influence of technology. The film is what you see it to be and nothing more or less than that. Like any piece of art or yes beautiful woman, this film is made to be experienced, thought about, dreamt about, examined in every precious detail and remembered.

Though clearly dated in many respects, the core visual set pieces of the movie involving the monolith and the murder of HAL aboard Discovery have not lost the luster.

The mysteries and ambiguities are by design in 2001. The film reaches quite high and more often than not, succeeds. Kubrick understood film is beyond rules and boundaries. He understood fortune favors the brave and the fearless. It is this fearlessness in both philosophy and technical execution that make the film as enduring as it has proven to be. Yet people wish to know, what is this film about?

Why does the Mona Lisa smile? Like any piece of art, the answer is only what you wish it to be. Seeing a film that challenges people to think, is obviously a leap many can't make. Kubrick always believed this and, to him, we are fucked in the end. In highlighting our laziness and flawed species, the irony is scorching.

2001 is a testament to this fact. The movie is basically a story about a group of humans who die in space by trusting a robot built to think for them.