When I was in college many MANY moons ago, I majored in broadcasting and wanted to go into cinematography. The visual image was (and to a large extent remains) much more important to me than the character study brought about by the actors. Shot selection, set design, lighting, all those technical details were what caught my attention in film.
I don’t remember the first time I saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember my sister and grandmother telling of seeing it in the theatre and putting on sunglasses and laughing at it.
I have seen 2001 many, many times. The most memorable was on our tv in HD. So many people I’ve talked to about this movie are unaffected by it because they don’t “get it.” It’s not a movie to be understood at the plot level. It’s a movie to be savored for the sheer majesty of its visuals. The makeup in the “Dawn of Man” sequence is by far the best human-to-animal makeup ever committed to celluloid. Why they could not reproduce this later in Planet of the Apes is beyond me. As I first viewed this film in adolescence, I was not sure that these were not real, trained animals.
There’s been many an article written about the technological and astronomical (space) elements of 2001 that have since come true, which is another fascinating element of this film. The shots in space, although not technically completely correct, are very close to what we are accustomed to seeing from actual camera shots in space today. This is a film that, visually and technically, holds up very well today, with the exception of some of the costuming, particularly in the scene where the “stewardess” walks the 180 degrees to come put Dr. Heywood Floyd’s pen back in his pocket.
Then, with several re-watchings, one begins to get the sense that the plotline involving the HAL 9000 computer (over-parodied in my opinion) is actually a horror story in its most sterile and austere sense. One of my favorite shots in the film is the sequence where Dave is unplugging the memory from HAL, as HAL begs him not to, and sings “Daisy” in an increasingly lowering voice.
The ending doesn’t make much sense to me, but just look at the set and the set design in the room with Dave as an old man. Again, stunning, a feast for the eyes. Not to mention the beautiful Strauss in the soundtrack.
I have yet to find someone I personally know who agrees, but 2001: A Space Odyssey remains my favorite movie of all time.
Movie Reviews By A Film Snob's Wife
Why 2001: A Space Odyssey Remains My All-Time Favorite
March 28, 2010When I was in college many MANY moons ago, I majored in broadcasting and wanted to go into cinematography. The visual image was (and to a large extent remains) much more important to me than the character study brought about by the actors. Shot selection, set design, lighting, all those technical details were what caught my attention in film.
I don’t remember the first time I saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember my sister and grandmother telling of seeing it in the theatre and putting on sunglasses and laughing at it.
I have seen 2001 many, many times. The most memorable was on our tv in HD. So many people I’ve talked to about this movie are unaffected by it because they don’t “get it.” It’s not a movie to be understood at the plot level. It’s a movie to be savored for the sheer majesty of its visuals. The makeup in the “Dawn of Man” sequence is by far the best human-to-animal makeup ever committed to celluloid. Why they could not reproduce this later in Planet of the Apes is beyond me. As I first viewed this film in adolescence, I was not sure that these were not real, trained animals.
There’s been many an article written about the technological and astronomical (space) elements of 2001 that have since come true, which is another fascinating element of this film. The shots in space, although not technically completely correct, are very close to what we are accustomed to seeing from actual camera shots in space today. This is a film that, visually and technically, holds up very well today, with the exception of some of the costuming, particularly in the scene where the “stewardess” walks the 180 degrees to come put Dr. Heywood Floyd’s pen back in his pocket.
The ending doesn’t make much sense to me, but just look at the set and the set design in the room with Dave as an old man. Again, stunning, a feast for the eyes. Not to mention the beautiful Strauss in the soundtrack.
I have yet to find someone I personally know who agrees, but 2001: A Space Odyssey remains my favorite movie of all time.
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