Our days. People build houses, launch satellites, the Internet, satellite television into space.
Not too distant. 1969. The first landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the moon.
Here is all the information you need to know before watching this movie. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick created, without exaggeration, a landmark film for cinema. If not for the odyssey, many science fiction films about the cosmos of our time were a little different, it is unknown that Tarkovsky would have created his Solaris and much more. This is not just a moment in history, it is history itself. History of the development of popular science fiction films.
The film poses many different topics, questions, few answers, but the three main ones are: the emergence of man, man and machine, man and space.
The emergence of man. This is the very first part of the movie. A monkey with a militant appearance beats a large tibia on the skeleton, then the first murder and so on. And all this is accompanied by the presence of a monolith, and absolutely black, and allegedly because of it monkeys suddenly became intelligent. This is another interpretation of where a person came from. But this is one of the most fantastic. It is unlikely that a monolith could fly to prehistoric primates and give them intelligence. It sounds and looks ridiculous. However, this point of view should not be discounted.
Man and machine. Can artificial intelligence know that it is smarter than humans? Could there be a rebellion on the ship itself? It’s always a long topic to discuss, and it all started with this movie. This is where it's most clearly shown. Even in the same terminator, this is expressed more in the militant form, and here everything goes on at the level of the subconscious, and the psychological relationship of a person with a computer. With a minimum of words, everything can be understood.
Man and space. Perhaps the most important part of the film is the last shot. Space, Child, Earth by Richard Strauss Everything looks great. You can watch the whole movie for that moment. A very symbolic moment. You can see that humans are just kids in space, like this kid floating in space. But there are many other moments, just landing on the moon, Jupiter.
In general, I divide all fantastic films into two types. The first is “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Alien”, “Star Wars” (4-5 episodes), etc. To the second group "Aliens", "Star Wars" (1-3, 6 episodes), etc. The first group is certainly more valuable films, creating the so-called dystopian world, they are more semantic, not focusing on war, shootings, explosions and so on. The complete opposite is the second group. As everyone says, but for me, the films from the first group are much more important, but unfortunately they are no longer being made, or are being made, but in very small quantities.
The main features of the film, in my opinion, is its plot and visualization. I’ve already said a lot about the story, but the most important thing is an open ending. Visualization in this film at the highest level. For 68, it's just a masterpiece in the field. And in general, at the moment, probably the most interesting visual series in this film. A permanent kaleidoscope of flowers, waltzes of spaceships, corridors, and even the most seemingly unremarkable hall, this is the dining room, and it is made with taste.
The main problem with this film is its length. For example, in the last half an hour in the film did not say a word. Towards the end, it starts to strain a little. Watching the transfusions of the flowers of space is interesting, but not for 20 minutes in a row. It's a mockery. Of course, in the late sixties it was a breakthrough, but now to play in silence is no longer relevant.
Of course, when playing in silence, the acting game is appropriate. Practically zero emotions. It's not even normal to single out the main character, whether it's Dave Bowman, or someone else. I don't understand. The film is divided into several parts, so... I only liked the HEL-9000 computer. That's really cool. Although it is clear that he has only one voiceover and an unblinking yellow eye, but it looks so spectacular that there are no words. It is no coincidence that after he was seen by Anthony Hopkins, he was immediately inspired to play the role of Lecturer. It's a real maniac.
And of course, the film has wonderful soundtracks. Kubrick has an amazing ability to successfully combine classical music with his films. In Clockwork Orange, he quite successfully wrote Beethoven’s music into the film. And here, in my opinion, even more successful classic Richard Strauss.
Kubrick makes a lot of completely different films. From a comedy to a horror film, from a science fiction to a film about teenage violence, each of his films is a small (and sometimes not small, as in the case of Clockwork Orange) revolution. In those days, space fiction was almost never filmed (I can’t even understand how he managed to shoot a moon landing, if the real moon landing happened only a year after the release of this film) and this film would be a great inspiration for future directors of this genre, for which he is very grateful.
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