Review:
Interstellar
is magnificent – a marvelous display of technical and aesthetic splendor on a
massive scale built around the deeply moving and emotional story of a father
and daughter.
The film takes place in the not
too far away future. The Earth’s crops have begun to die out, leaving the world
in a state of hunger, humanity’s population gravely thinning out. The
environment too has become more severe, dust storms engulfing towns and cities,
resembling the Dust Bowl crisis during the Great Depression. Man’s time on
Earth has come to an end. Meanwhile, former NASA pilot Cooper has become a
farmer (as Earth needs food, not pilots), raising his young son, Tom, and
daughter, Murph, after his wife passed away. Mankind has become a race of
farmers and caretakers, desperately trying to cling to what the Earth has left,
giving up what they now believe to be the wasteful and childish ideas of
exploration and discovery. Cooper still believes in progress, however, as an
engineer. He raises his children to think critically and not be content with
their place (putting him and them at odds with the general population). Tom,
however, is content to be a farmer when he grows up, but it is clear that Murph
has the spirit and imagination of an explorer and/or scientist. She discovers a
gravitational anomaly that leads her and Cooper to a secret NASA base (they
have gone underground due to their public unpopularity). Cooper learns that
NASA is working on a last ditch effort to save humanity (certain that Earth’s
last substantial crop, corn, will too soon die out). A mission through a newly
discovered wormhole (which appeared around the same time as many other strange
gravitational anomalies across our solar system) to search three potential
habitual planets in a new galaxy that would otherwise be outside the reach of
mankind. If one of these planets can support life, maybe mankind has a chance.
Cooper agrees to go on the mission, piloting the spacecraft, knowing that he
will likely never see his family again, leaving his daughter Murph heartbroken.
Cooper feels he must go. He along with three other astronauts are humanity’s
last, best chance (and Cooper’s only chance to save his family). Like any review, there are going to be some spoilers in the
discussion of the film. Be warned.
Interstellar begins on Earth,
which has become an almost uninhabitable planet, slowly killing off mankind as
crops are one-by-one overtaken by blight. Writer-director
Christopher
Nolan (who co-wrote the film with his brother
Jonathan Nolan)
takes something very much rooted in reality – the fact that humans are
devastatingly altering the Earth’s environment – and projects it forward to an
apocalyptic climax. People living in this wasteland talk about the past (our present)
with distain – our greed and carelessness put us on the path to our own
destruction. There is also a clever nod to the idea that seems to be popular
today that space exploration is a waste of our resources. In Interstellar’s
grim future, people believe that space exploration was all an elaborate scam,
perpetrated to bankrupt the Cold War era Soviet Union, as they tried to match
the U.S. bomb for bomb and beat them to the Moon (and beyond). It was a waste
of resources, exemplifying the decadence of the past. Their textbooks have been
altered to teach this to students, now believed to be the truth.
Nolan, with Interstellar, seems
to be trying to once again spark interest in space exploration, in discovery –
something that was very much a part of our culture (at least for those alive
during the U.S.’s NASA missions). Growing up in the 1960s-1980s, every child
dreamed of being an astronaut, exploring the wonders of space, leading to the
overwhelming popularity of science fiction (films like
2001: A Space Odyssey,
Close Encounters of
the Third Kind and
Star Wars
– all of which are big influences on Interstellar). But something changed
within our culture, within us. We no longer look up to the stars and dream.
Technologically speaking, this is a grave tragedy, as NASA’s scientists greatly
pushed technological advancement forward as they frantically worked to conquer
the great unknown. The majesty, grandness and beauty of Interstellar will
hopefully reignite our imaginations, our drive to explore (something that
seemingly has always been a part of what makes us human, but has somehow been
lost) and our willingness to take risks – to make our dreams into reality.
Nolan screened
The
Right Stuff to invigorate his crew with this spirit of discovery.
Technically and aesthetically,
the film is utterly spellbinding. The visuals are unlike anything else in
modern cinema (greatly trumping last year’s
Gravity
by comparison, which I thought was fantastic as well on a visual level, but
this film is on an entirely different level of beauty and grandeur). I highly
recommend seeing it in IMAX, as the film has over an hour of footage that takes
advantage of the formats expansive 70mm film stock (
here is a list of
IMAX theaters, for real IMAX look for theaters with the 15/70mm screens).
Interstellar is a marvel alone for its technical and aesthetic achievements
(most of which were created in camera – which is very uncommon today).
Yet, to sustain the audience for
the film’s long runtime, there must also be substance. Many have accused
Nolan’s work of lacking emotion in the past (something I do not agree with, but
it seems to be the general consensus among critics). Interstellar is different.
It is Nolan’s most emotional film. The story is very simple. It is about the
relationship between Cooper and Murph. She feels betrayed when he leaves. He
has left her to grow up without parents, abandoned to die on the Earth while he
potentially restarts humanity on a new planet. Nolan mines this relationship
for all its dramatic emotion. Due to relativity caused by a black hole called
Gargantua, Cooper loses twenty three years in only a few hours, watching his
children grow up through a series of video messages, unable to send return
messages. This scene is tragic, as Cooper realizes what he is giving up. His
motivation is to get back to his children, but visiting each of these potential
planets advances time greatly for Earth relative to the short amount of time he
has spent on the planets. Cooper realizes that he may not be able to see his
children again, which crushes him.
Nolan’s character development is
very good as well. The first act stage setting, detailing the relationships
between the characters, goes a long way, paying off profoundly as Cooper and
Murph’s relationship develops. We understand why Cooper must go, but also the
loss felt by Murph. Seeing Cooper’s children age (and grow up without him) and
his devastation at the very real realization that he will likely never see them
again also crushes us as well.
Cooper and Murph are also
mirrored by Dr. Amelia Brand and her father Professor Brand. Amelia leaves on the mission
while her father stays behind working on a solution to save the people on
Earth. There is a plan A and plan B. Plan A sees humanity rocket off the Earth
on a massive space station (Professor Brand just has not solved the equation
allowing it to be possible, but he is confident he will), while Plan B sees Cooper,
Amelia and the two other astronauts repopulate humanity on a new planet with
hundreds of embryos that they have brought along. Murph is devastated by her
father leaving and Amelia is also devastated when she learns the truth that
plan A is a lie, enacted to bring people together, to work together supporting
plan B. Professor Brand had already solved his equation long ago, but it was a
dead-end. It was his intention all along for plan B to be humanity’s salvation.
Amelia cannot believe that her father would betray her by lying to her and
Murph, learning the truth as well, is consumed by the idea that her father knew
and left her to die on Earth. Here again, Nolan achieves real emotional
resonance, drawing the audience further in. Seeing Murph’s anger towards Cooper
is heartbreaking for us as well. We care deeply about these characters. We want
to see them succeed. Thus, the action plays on a much more emotional level for
us. We are completely engrossed.
The action is thrilling.
Interstellar has a number of grand action sequences that are very entertaining,
both on a visual and dramatic level. Nolan is a master of building tension; and
this film has a number of agonizingly tense moments that grab you and do not
let go. The film also uses the idea of evil very well. The film postulates that
there is no evil in nature, only in what humans bring with them. Thus, in a new
galaxy, untouched by mankind, the only evil is that of man. This plays out
wonderfully through the character of Dr. Mann. He is described by the crew as
“the best of all of us”. Dr. Mann is one of the twelve scientists who left ten
years prior to Cooper’s mission to scout potential planets and relay the data that they find. Dr. Mann has sent back his data with the message that his planet
has incredible potential. Yet, things are not as they appear on his planet when
Cooper and Amelia arrive. Dr. Mann is overcome by his own mortality,
prioritizing his own survival over anything else. He falsified his data so that
the team would come to his planet to save him. Nolan again does a great job of
creating characters that seem to mirror each other. Both Cooper and Dr. Mann
are presented as heroes who sacrifice everything to save humanity; however,
when everything is on the line, their true natures take over. Cooper proves
himself to be selfless while Dr. Mann is selfish. Mankind’s drive to survive
makes him able to be either selfless or selfish, good or evil, hero or villain,
brave or cowardly (and sometimes both). Dr. Mann is the film’s villain, but he is not really a
villain in the classical sense. More so, he is just a man who has given in to
his own weakness.
Getting back to the narrative, Nolan
is well known for his plot twists. Interstellar, as said above, tells a very
simple story on a massively grand scale. While it does contain a number of plot
twists, they are not the point of the story, and honestly they are not really
big twists to those paying attention (as well as those with an understanding of
film structure – or those who have just seen a lot of movies). Everything is clearly
telegraphed to the audience (generally a staple of good storytelling). Again,
Nolan has created a film that seems to transcend what we typically think of as
a blockbuster. While it does have similar elements (big action sequences, plot
twists and a grand scale/scope), Nolan seems to have a much higher ambition. He
wants to make a sci-fi epic that is visually compelling, emotionally engaging
and thought provoking, along the lines of classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey (which
he fantastically pays homage to through some great tongue-and-cheek dialog from
the astronauts' robot companion TARS) and Close Encounters of the Third
Kind. These types of films are almost completely non-existent in today’s cinema
(which is sad). I think Nolan succeeds in his ambition.
The science of the film is also a
big element in its construction. The Nolan Brothers worked closely with
physicist
Kip
Thorne (who serves as an executive producer) on the script, the feasibility
and look of the film. Interstellar relies on the audience’s understanding of
wormholes, black holes, relativity, and other scientific principles and
theories. It sounds like a tall order to get all this information across
without the film being bogged down in its science. Nolan, here, succeeds
spectacularly as well. The film is paced wonderfully to keep things moving. The
exposition and science are woven expertly into the dialogue, leaving the
audience informed and never bored (something Nolan probably learned writing and
making
Inception,
a film in which he creates the character of Ariadne just so everything can be
explained to the audience). Everything is also shown visually as well, taking
advantage of the majesty of the film’s beautiful imagery.
Interstellar, however, is also a
film that is likely to prove to be somewhat decisive for viewers. There are
elements that can potentially feel very hokey (mostly stemming from Murph’s
ghost and the twist involving what it actually is). It is again a film about a
father and daughter; thus, its resolution is going to be about these
characters, their relationship. The film takes such big risks with its narrative
in the third act that they are not going to work for everyone. Yet, it is these
risks that also create the film’s most emotionally captivating and powerful
moments. Thus, if they do feel overly hokey, the film will possibly leave you
disappointed; but, if they engage you on the intended emotional level, the film
works beautifully.
Nolan is an optimist. While the
film begins with the potential end of humanity, it ends with hope, a confidence
that we can be better, that we can once again reach for the stars. It is
Nolan’s most beautiful and touching film. Interstellar is grandiose due to its striking
imagery and ambition; but it is a film that exceeds its blockbuster label,
resonating on a much more emotional level, getting at the core of what makes us
human – our ability to love, to endure and to look up at the stars, imagining
our place among them, seeking out the unknown.
Technical,
aesthetic & acting achievements: Christopher Nolan has now made nine
feature films. Nolan began his career with the micro budget (a sparse $6,000)
crime drama mystery/thriller
Following.
Despite the small budget, the film foreshadows the narrative themes and
storytelling style that Nolan is now famous for. He then made his breakthrough
film,
Memento,
a mystery thriller that stormed the world of independent film and made Nolan a
star overnight. He came to Hollywood, first making
Insomnia and
following it up with his brilliant The Dark Knight trilogy (
Batman Begins,
The
Dark Knight and
The
Dark Knight Rises), representing the heights to which genre (superhero/comic
book) filmmaking can achieve. Between his Batman films, he made a wonderful
film about dueling magicians,
The Prestige,
and a massive action thriller that assumes that the audience is actively
engaged and not just a passive, distracted observer waiting to be cheaply entertained
with Inception. That brings us to Interstellar. Nolan’s films have operated on
a massive scale (especially the last three), both narratively and physically –
Nolan integrating more and more IMAX footage with each film. He is a director
who makes spectacles in the classical sense – grand epics that thrill us while
also challenging us dramatically and emotionally. He is an auteur in the truest
sense of the word; and yet unlike most other auteurs working today, he makes
films intended to be blockbusters. He does it better than anyone else right
now. It is his gift to take on such an immense scale and scope with his films
and not lose their dramatic and emotional cores. While his films are
blockbusters, his characters are just as rich and well developed as any in
cinema. Interstellar is both his most ambitious and his most personal (shooting
under the title Flora’s Letter, named for his daughter). It is also maybe Nolan’s
most polarizing film, stemming from the narrative risks he takes. I think
Interstellar is a masterful work, daring to be a blockbuster that aspires to be
original and thought provoking (similar to the grand epics of the past, like
Stanley Kubrick’s
2001: A Space Odyssey) when Hollywood cinema has become reductive, constantly
recycling the same ideas over and over, afraid to take risks because missteps
today are too costly. Nolan worked his way up with his marvelous films,
Inception probably being the key stepping stone, allowing him to aim high and
swing big. I, for one, am glad he did. Interstellar is an incredible cinematic experience.
As stated many times above,
Interstellar is a wonder of aesthetic and technical majesty. Composer
Hans Zimmer’s
score is breathtaking (it very well might have been my favorite part of the
film). It is different than anything else found in other current blockbusters.
Zimmer’s music is grand and beautiful, completely emotionally engulfing the
viewer (
here is the
main theme). It resonates incredibly well with the striking visuals, creating a
full emotional experience (I wish I could go back and see it again for the
first time and hear the music again for the first time). Filling in for
Wally Pfister
(Interstellar is only Nolan’s second film not shot by Pfister, the other is
Following), cinematographer
Hoyte Van Hoytema
delivers stunning work. The photography in the film is astounding, arresting
and wondrous. Nolan’s characters and their emotional journey are the core of
the film, but Hoytema’s photography is just as big a part of Interstellar’s
power and grandeur. Production designer
Nathan Crowley
does a wonderful job as well. Although the film does take place in the future,
his work feels very much rooted in the past, representing a society that has
suffered a grave setback. His spacecraft designs are very utilitarian, looking
like they were put together in a hodgepodge fashion using many eras of
technology (with digital and analog options). Earth does not look very futurist
either (matching the idea that humanity is on the decline), as if technological
advancement came to a halt and maybe even regressed.
The cast of Interstellar is very
good.
John
Lithgow,
Ellen
Burstyn,
Casey
Affleck, and
Wes Bentley
are good in small supporting roles.
David Gyasi
plays Romilly, one of the four astronauts on the mission. His role is fairly
small, but Gyasi does a lot with it, showing the emotional and physical toll
that the mission takes on his character. He is excellent in the film.
Bill Irwin
plays TARS one of the robots that accompanies the astronauts on their mission.
Irwin gives TARS a wonderfully sly wit, providing the film's best comedic
moments.
Michael
Caine plays Professor Brand (possibly a surrogate for Kip Thorne), the
principal scientist at NASA and the chief engineer behind the mission to save
humanity. Caine brings a weighted gravity to his performance that is very effective.
The reveal of his grand lie is one of the more powerful moments in the film.
Matt
Damon plays Dr. Mann, an astronaut/scientist who puts himself ahead of
mankind’s survival. Damon does not often get to play the villain, but he is
very good at it. Dr. Mann does terrible and cowardly things. Damon is so good
at being overly self-justified and sleazy, creating a great character in Dr.
Mann.
Mackenzie
Foy plays Young Murph. She is very good, showcasing Murph’s intelligence,
wonder and absolute devastation when her father leaves her. Foy sets the stage
for
Jessica
Chastain who plays the character grown up. Chastain plays Murph as a
character who has been hurt. She is still haunted by the decision her father
made, unable to forgive him. Yet, it also makes her determined to do her part
in saving humanity, as she works with Professor Brand on his equation and
preparing for plan A’s success. Chastain’s best moments come when she discovers
that plan A is a lie, reigniting the heartbreak she felt when her father left,
but also strengthen her resolve to find a way to save humanity even more.
Anne Hathaway
plays Dr. Amelia Brand, also one of the astronauts. Hathaway plays Amelia with
a certain naivety that when crushed opens her up to becoming stronger as a
person (to some extend mirroring Murph’s resolve in the face of plan A being
revealed as a lie). Hathaway is very good, transitioning from her naivety to
real strength.
Matthew
McConaughey plays Cooper, taking on the responsibility of being the audience’s
surrogate in the narrative (their way into the story). It is very difficult to
play the everyman and still create a full character. McConaughey does this
particularly well (he is having a fantastic year – winning an Oscar, giving
what might be the year’s best performance in HBO’s
True Detective
and now delivering yet another fine performance in this). He is likable, yet
does not pander. He is a rebel in the classical sense, yearning for something
more than being a farmer. He gets his wish, but at a great cost. The audience
feels for him, cares about him and wants to see him succeed – all key elements
to the film working. His performance achieves all these things and more.
Summary
& score: Interstellar is a monumental achievement of acting,
aesthetic and technical triumphs. It is a blockbuster that dares to be so much more,
filled with rich characters, moving drama and real emotional resonance. 10/10
