by Brendan Foley
Two Cents
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. We are Two Cents. We became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. Our instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it we can sing it for you.”
Stanley Kubrick’s epic opus of evolution, space travel, and the dangers of programming computers with lip-reading capabilities, 2001: A Space Odyssey remains every bit as stirring, maddening, and divisive today as it was on initial release in 1968.
2001 has been absorbed into the very marrow of culture, with endless parodies and homages of everything from the dawn of man sequence, to the immortal exchange between HAL and Dave Bowman, to the final journey beyond the stars all receiving instantaneous recognition.
But even as the film has been mocked, tweaked and referenced ad nauseum, no one has ever been able to replicate that peculiar alchemy of Kubrick’s vision. Even when we see other filmmakers adopt aspects of his aesthetic they either opt for a more traditional narrative (like Interstellar or Sunshine) or bungle it (A.I. Artificial Intelligence [sorry Steve]).
[EDIT: I’d like to add The Fountain to this conversation, a film which likewise features a resplendent and transcendent tale of space travel and ties it into different points in time. — Austin]
So what is it about 2001: A Space Odyssey that resonates so? Why is this film, set in the past, still the measuring stick by which we discuss and dream of the future? How is it that a film of such outdated effects still so effective in ushering audiences beyond the realm of the possible?
Let’s find out!
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
The Cinapse team was, and remains, heartbroken at the loss of our friend, James Carey. A fine writer and even finer man, James always made it a delight to talk movies, even if that movie was a Transformers cartoon. Especially if that movie was a Transformers cartoon.
Ed Travis has already written a beautiful tribute to James, and we at Two Cents would like to honor Mr. Carey by making our next pick one of his favorites.
So next week, we will be watching Big Trouble in Little China, one of the wildest and weirdest rides of 80s. We hope you’ll join us.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
Our Guests
Nick Spacek:2001: A Space Odyssey exists for me on so many levels, it’s hard to decide what facet at which to look. The various plot points and ideas have been so thoroughly subsumed by popular culture that it’s now almost impossible to view the film in a vacuum and observe it as a solitary entity. It seems like every single aspect of Kubrick’s film has been recontextualized in some form or another. Be it certain scenes, the use of classical music in those particular scenes, or even something such as the wider idea of a coldly-logical, British-accented killer computer, the entirety of 2001 has been repurposed elsewhere. Viewing it now, one can only see it as a well from which much has been drawn. It’s only with great effort that you can return to the nearly 50 year-old picture and see it in the scope which it once had. If nothing else, no amount of Simpsons parodies can take away from its fantastically gorgeous look. For every scene which has the viewer snarking at a previously-seen gag, there’s easily a half-dozen which leave you jaw agape in wonder. (@nuthousepunks)
The Team
Justin:This week, Austin and Brandon [EDITOR’S NOTE: Justin Harlan knew precisely what he was doing here, and is henceforth banned for life from Two Cents, Cinapse, and the Internet. He will also be castrated. With a shovel.] tasked us with watching Stanley Kubrick’s epic 19-hour Sci-Fi “classic” 2001: A Space Odyssey. How it’s so revered, I’ll never understand.
I know that everyone reading this will say, “This is the guy who like Phantom Menace, he obviously can’t appreciate Kubrick.” And while I do enjoy all things Star Wars, even the prequels, I count several of Kubrick’s films among my all-time favorites, having owned his definitive box set since it was released on DVD just after his passing.
Interestingly, I really enjoy Barry Lyndon, but find parts of this film unwatchably slow and meandering. Though admittedly, even I can’t fathom how I don’t find BL dull, yet find this one to be so lackluster.
On this, my 4th viewing, I found myself appreciating some of the artfulness more, but ultimately it may be my final viewing ever. I like what the film has to say, but I continue to prefer hearing the message via other voices. (@thepaintedman)
Austin:For all its grandeur, 2001 can sometimes feel like a frustrating or exhausting experience for viewers due to its slowness, non sequitur plot beats, and bizarre symbolism. There are those who consider it poorly paced or otherwise overrated. I disagree, but while I am a fan of the film, I’m not immune to its challenges and worried when viewing it for the second time at the Alamo Drafthouse that the screening might drag a bit. Happily, I was wrong.
Home viewing, even in HD, doesn’t compare to the majesty of the theatrical presentation. On the big screen, it demands and deserves full attention. The entire field of view is filled with sumptuous cinematography, and the music and sound complement triumphantly from the famous opening sequences featuring Also Sprach Zarathustra and Blauer Donau, to HAL’s measured monotone, to the haunting wails that accompany the Monolith, to the dead silence of infinite space.
A brilliant classic worth watching and rewatching. (@VforVashaw)
Brendan:I hated this movie so much the first time I saw. Hated hated hated it. I thought it was laborious and pretentious and nonsensical for the sake of being nonsensical. Bear in mind, I was still in high school with a brain that was still not-quite firm.
Nowadays I look at this film as a beloved classic and one of my favorite movies, period. It’s a film that manages to use the medium of film to peer beyond the material world, that uses illusions and tricks as a means to capture an almost holy aura of the infinite in which we move.
And what struck me as a tremendously cold film I now realize to be a tremendously human document. 2001, alone of Kubrick’s film, sees Man rise above our carnality (and repression of same) to strive (and achieve) a foothold in the world of gods. It’s awe-inspiring narrative and filmmaking, often imitated and never even remotely equaled. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Did you all get a chance to watch along with us? Share your thoughts with us here in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!