2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Written by: Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C Clarke
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester

I love that local cinemas are showing prints of old movies. I got to see the 4k transfer of 2001: A Space Odyssey yesterday. My only criticism, the volume in the cinema was too loud. It helped in places, as the classical music soundtrack was all the more powerful when you're in the middle of its bombast, but two sequences in particular almost deafened me. One was when HAL disables the life support systems of the crew in hibernation, and the other was when the Monolith on the moon transmits its message to Jupiter. It certainly made me sympathise with those poor spacemen.

2001 takes its time. Everything moves at a slow and deliberate pace, and it never becomes boring. Even the black screen before the film, after intermission, and after the end credits is made tolerable because of the music. The long sequences of spaceships travelling and docking is made passable by the music, and the "tripping balls" sequence as my friend put it is such an affront of image and sound, that you can't help but be mesmorised.

Even though the majority of the film feels slow, it astonished me how quickly the HAL story moved. We meet the crew of this Jupiter mission, HAL discusses some concerns about the mission before mentioning a malfunction in the craft. The crew go to fix it and it turns out there is nothing wrong with it. Frank and Dave believe HAL is a danger and talk about disconnecting him. He turns on both of them, and Dave barely makes it back to the ship to disable HAL. It speeds along into the final sequence.

I thought about the hero's journey. That if HAL had knowledge of the Monolith and its purpose, perhaps humanity had to prove itself before reaching Jupiter, before unlocking the secrets of the universe. The final shot of the film, the "space baby" returning to Earth makes me think of Dave being completely reborn and ready to lead humanity on its next step (how the Monolith appears to the apes at the start of the movie and inspires them to use tools). When he's in the room at the end, time works in a strange way. It leaps forward in chunks with him in two times at once before fully committing to the future. Whether the old man to space baby transition is a metaphor for the afterlife and a new state of being, or the Monolith is telling Dave that he can jump back in time as well, I don't know.

What I do know is if you have a chance to see 2001 on the big screen, please take the opportunity. 

Personal enjoyment: ★★★★