Although I saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time only recently, I felt as though I had already seen it. Such is the influence of the Sci-fi behemoth that it has informed the style and substance of many films since (notably Nolan’s Interstellar) and achieved the pinnacle of any zeitgeist film - a Simpsons parody. And while there were still surprises in store for my first viewing, I can’t help but feel it did not live up to expectations.
The production design is immaculate, with a stark palate of blacks and whites, the occasional splashes of colour such as Dave’s (Keir Dullea) orange space suit make for striking images.The space station and the ship Discovery One have a realistic quality to them, without the grit and grime of the ship from Alien. Having grown up with cgi heavy sci-fi such as the star trek reboot and the star wars prequels, the practical in-camera effects of 2001 made a refreshing change. Oddly it seemed more like science fact than science fiction, knowing that the effects were physically done on set somehow made them seem more real within the narrative. That is until a sequence in the film’s final act, which while cutting edge at the time now looks like something windows media player would produce as standard. That being said, on the whole the film looks great nearly 50 years on - especially on a big screen.
Saying that the film contains sparse dialogue is being generous, it is almost barren. The effect however is not alienation, rather as a viewer I found myself even more drawn in - reading significance into every furrowed brow, every glance. What dialogue there is, serves to create a stifling atmosphere, particularly Dave and Frank’s (Gary Lockwood) hushed conversation inside the pod, their deadpan delivery makes the situation seem even more desperate. Most iconic of all are the conversations between Dave and the artificial intelligence HAL (Douglas Rain). Keir Dullea injects real humanity into his interaction with the faceless HAL (perhaps more than he does with his colleague Frank), while HAL’s silky voice goes from reassuring to sinister - a touchstone for sentient machines ever since. I found the drama between HAL and Dave truly compelling, and only wish that it had made more of the film, the relationship between man and machine is fascinating and rich for exploitation, and its resolution I felt seemed rushed - as though Kubrick was making haste to explore other themes, which I did not connect with as much.
I would try at this point in my review to avoid spoilers, but seeing as I didn’t really understand the ending it seems as though I couldn’t spoil it if I tried. It is a testament to Kubrick’s direction that I was gripped by the final scenes, even though I was completely baffled by what was happening. In discussion with a friend straight afterwards we had found completely different interpretations, perhaps we are just products of a generation that expects to be told explicitly what to think, but we agreed we were both going home to do an internet search of possible readings of the final act - a very 2014 reaction to 2001. It is to the film’s great credit then, that even if its main selling point was lost on me, I found so much else to enjoy. In particular, the biting satire of consumer culture, from the product placement of IBM and PanAm (perhaps not intentional satire) to the charge for making a video call home (to a daughter not impressed in the slightest that her father is in space), to the horrific looking in-flight meal, all these things resonated with me. As I have stated, the interaction between Dave and HAL was for me the most interesting part of the film, and perhaps as we live in an era dominated by smartphones (with their sleek obelisk shape) and technology, this was the most relevant to me.
From a filmmaking perspective, 2001 is immensely impressive for both its ground-breaking practical effects (the rotating spaceship reminiscent ofInception’s hallway scene) and the gorgeous cinematography. The production design remains influential, HAL’s cycloptic eye fading away is a visual motif that has been recycled many times. The narrative, while perhaps leaving me a little cold, contains so many themes that it remains relevant to this day, and likely will continue to be so in the future. Aptly for a film concerned with human evolution, 2001 has played a key role in the evolution of cinema, and for this reason alone deserves your attention. Beyond all the plaudits and controversies and even moon landing conspiracies, there is much to enjoy in a film that, even if it doesn’t have many satisfying answers, raises some interesting questions.
WHO: Keir Dullea, manages to pull of compelling dialogue with a black box.
WHAT: The Obelisk.
WHY: To work out what the ending means. And tell me.
WHEN: If you watch this film in 2050 it will still be relevant.
(Art from: http://applehammer.com/?p=108)
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