#20 Interstellar

In Summary

A high concept, visually spectacular, crowd pleasing. Interstellar is another typical Christopher Nolan film.

Set in a dystopian version of Earth 50 years into the future where the world population is dwindling as a result of climate change, Interstellar is the tale of the search for a new planet to save the human race.

Christopher Nolan takes the decision to ground the film through an opening 40 minutes of this epic space exploration set entirely on Earth and focusing entirely on one family - the Coopers. It is through their daily struggles that we learn the realities of this dystopian Earth, avoiding the need for expository information or dialogue.

The thread that ties Interstellar together is the relationship between Coop - the single father of the family- and his daughter, Murphy. This lends greater weight to the key concept behind the film - the relativity of time - with the longer Coop spends on these other planets, even more time passes by on Earth - in the order of decades.

The effect of this is that it makes time feel incredibly precious throughout the latter stages of the film. Each passing second nags heavily as Coop has to balance getting back to his family in time with finding humanity's salvations.

In addition to that clever expression of time, Interstellar is also a beautifully shot film. The stunning, stark, lonely landscapes of these other planets adds to a sense of desolation throughout the film. In addition, there is this battered and lived-in feel to the technology, which gives the space travel this rickety feeling, making the mission feel that bit more desperate.

It comes together to create a film that is both epic and small in scale. Interstellar is a film that both awes you and punches you in the gut.

A Memorable Quote

Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Things You May Not Know

• Steven Spielberg was originally intended to direct the film as far back as 2006, and had hired Christopher Nolan's brother, Jonathan, to write the screenplay.
• The wormhole being placed near Saturn is a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• The idea for Interstellar was originally conceived by theoretical physicist Kip Thorne - who consulted on Contact - who ensured that the screenplay remained as scientifically realistic as possible.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
There's a lot that I like about Interstellar. It is intelligent, although perhaps less than it thinks it is, visually beautiful and emotionally captivating. Unlike a lot of big budget science-fiction films, Interstellar is quiet and meditative, and often quite sad in places.

The film perhaps falls apart towards the end as its sentimentalism overrides its sense of realism, however, even then it turns towards its emotional rather than visual notes to resolve its narrative. There aren't many big budget sci-fi films of this current era that are quite like Interstellar.