cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1145119
I know most of us have seen it, but if you haven’t (or it’s been a very long time), this is your assignment this weekend. Watching this film with the reverence that it deserves will leave a lasting impression on you.
I’m a little ashamed to admit I just watched it for the first time and I absolutely loved it. The cinematography is on another level. As someone who loves both sci-fi and artsy movies this scratched a very particular itch for me.
No shame! I have several holes that I need to fill in my pantheon. We get to them when we can.
I remember trying to watch it in my late teens and having zero patience; I think I turned it off before the dawn of man sequence ended! So glad I’ve grown into a wider taste in art and film.
The teens are a tough time for artistic smoldering epics! There are so many movies that I cherish now that I would almost certainly have turned my nose up to. If I think too hard about it, there are probably some pretty cringe movies that I adored in high school too. That might be a fun post.
If you haven’t, checked out the OG The Day The Earth Stood Still. It’s more drama than action, it’s theme is still incredibly relevant. Just, uh, try not to giggle at the rubber robots. and stay away from the remake with keanu reaves… (sacrilege that.)
What’s so important about it? I didn’t hate it but it felt like two hours of Kubrick masturbating in the editing box. The story was boring and there was very little throught provoking going on.
It was made in 1968 and changed the way people think about science fiction on screen forever. One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken, it inspired countless others to try to reach similar heights in cinematography and visual effects. Before 2001, the Science Fiction motion picture genre was entirely dominated by giant ants and awful prop movies were people would just run around screaming from shoddily constructed robot suits. 2001 A Space Odyssey proved how much more the Sci-fi genre could be. A film more than 50 years old that still has effects and photography that are amazing today, and pioneered techniques that filmmakers still use.
As for as the story, if you are someone who needs to have constant action and thrills, it’s not going to work for you. As a smoldering epic full of existential dread at the hands of human progress and the unknown, there are very few films to reach its heights. If you are interested in analysis, there is a LOT out there. I could have you find some.
I can’t get into it, like the premise but it’s too slow. Feels like it is the movie that has aged worse from Kubrick catalog. Hal’s murder is amazing though. Recomend Ex Machina very much for someone who is interested in some of these themes.
I watched it on shrooms when I was a teenager. From what I remember, it was pretty good as an art piece (atmospheric, cool visuals and audio).
Book is better for the plot/storytelling. IIRC the film was supposed to be a companion piece for the book.
Fwiw I am also not a fan of the movie, but was surprised to find I really enjoyed the book. Might be worth a try.
Honestly…while there’s a few iconic moments- like the guy running the wheel; I felt that it did a very poor job of communicating what the book does.
though, also, I might be a little biased to the greatest SciFi film to date being the 1950’s version of The Day The Earth Stood Still. sure, it’s not got the action. it doesn’t have apes beating apes. But it does have thought provoking content that is still poignantly relevant to today’s world. (it’s a criticism of Mutually Assured Destruction,)
I think a lot of people don’t realize that the book and movie aren’t REALLY the same story. They were written in parallel together and Kubrick has never been one to make faithful recreations of source material anyway.
I do love The Day the Earth Stood Still also. A lot of people will right it off because it seems a little hokey due to it’s age.
It’s too slow. I like action, chemistry or comedy with my plot and character development. It fastidiously avoids all three in it’s slow-burn goal. I’ve never managed to finish the film.
tbf I don’t really like film all that much in general. It’s okay.
I’m kinda on your side in this. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and never got into it, I think the imagery is provocative but with the glut of projects it inspired that exist nowadays, I feel like I saw it too late, and it’s lack of common features while also being long makes it kinda a non-starter for me.
Don’t think I’ll ever finish it but I understand why people love it.
2001: A Space Odyssey was the first “grown-up” book I remember reading and avidly enjoying it in highschool!
I love how this movie gave way to a short but solid dick-measuring contest between Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky. Which, in turn, produced the next best sci-fi movie of the period, “Solaris”
Oh yeah. Solaris is another incredible film. Although I suspect if people find 2001 difficult, Solaris would be much more difficult. That 10 minute car sequence is extremely polarizing, even in my group of cinema geek friends.
Solaris IS difficult, but it gets much easier for those that read Stanislav Lem’s “Solaris” book first. Tarkovsky being, firstly, a photographer, his cinematographic take was to complement the book with astonishing atmosphere and photographic frames while leaving the story and action in the second and third places. It’s harder to digest for the people that look more for action, but I can’t blame them: this is not supposed to be for everyone
You know I never read the book. I should put that on my list. I feel like Solaris is a movies that you just let wash over you.
I watched it as a young teenager and hated it. Couldn’t understand what was going on, thought it was too slow and long to be interesting.
Cut to now and Interstellar is one of my favorite movies; I wanted some reading material with the same vibe, so I picked up the book of 2001 and I’m loving it so far.
Time for a rewatch as an adult I think.
