Interstellar

One of my great annoyances when it comes to film criticism, on all levels, is that often a film will be judged not on how good it is or the film itself, but by how close it came to what that specific viewer wanted from the film. So when a film turns out to be different from what they had built up in their mind and the ideas they had fallen in love with, they reject the film, with conclusions ranging from four letter expletives to well written essays.

This was an idea that came to me as I read a number of reviews of Christopher Nolan's most recent film Interstellar (after the film obviously) as half the reviews seem to reject the film adopting for a more emotionally driven, rather than plot driven direction, unlike his previous films where the plot is often more intricate and central focus of the film.

I'll be sparing with plot details and try to avoid any spoilers.

Set in a relatively close future, speaking in science-fiction terms, the earth is quickly becoming uninhabitable, so mankind looks to the stars for salvation. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is asked to be one of a small team to go out into space in search of a new home. It’s a very basic summary I know, but I really want as many of you to experience this film fresh.

The main character throughout Interstellar is Cooper, a man who, as you can tell from the mission he is given, is forced to leave his family behind so that he can save all of humanity. A necessary choice, but for a father, a heart wrenching one. It is this guilt mixed with a determination to get home that is constant drive for Cooper, a man prepared to do anything, to get back to Earth. Some of Cooper’s best moments are the simplest ones, often a scene with his daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) or one where he is by himself. A moment where he watches videos sent from Earth by his children is as heartbreaking for him as it is for the audience, where Cooper is questioning whether coming here will ever be worth the price it has cost him and his family personally.

When it was announced that Wally Pfister would be moving from being Nolan's regular director of photography and becoming a director in his own right, I wondered just who would ever be capable of filling that spot at the camera. But not surprisingly Hoyte van Hoytema does a frankly stunning job here, bringing to life every environment and new world we set down on or drive across.

The IMAX sequences really come into stand out on Cooper’s farm and the ice planet (both of which are in the trailer). Both are filled with these beautiful sweeping vistas, with the characters barely anything more than a dot.

The moments in space of the Endurance and Rangers (spacecraft within the film) are jaw dropping. Yes they all computer generated, but it just looks so good that for just a second you can imagine that this is as close to the real thing as we will ever get.

Interstellar does take advantage of a number of science fiction tropes. One which I am glad they did was in their use of robots and how they envisioned them looking. Moving away from the Alien and Star Trek approach of synthetic humans or artificial persons, here they are presented as two monoliths capable of altering their shape to meet the task required from them. One of them, thanks to an adjustable humour setting, gets some of the best lines and jokes that make reference to sci-fi classics, including 2001. Achieved through a mix of practical and computer effects, the robots TARS and CASE, are one of the films great successes.

One common complaint that is often levelled against Christopher Nolan is that his films are cold and emotionless. This is a grand statement based on little factual proof, especially when you consider his previous films. A scene that debunks this rumour and springs to mind is where Leonard in Memento created a lie for himself whereby he thinks his wife is still there, even if it only fools him for a second. Or Alfred’s apology in the Wayne cemetery at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. If these moments didn't get to you, then maybe the problem isn't with the films.

Interstellar goes in the completely opposite direction to Nolan’s previous work, at times forgoing plot, or at least leaving it in the background, as the focus stays on the relationship between Cooper and Murphy. This is the key relationship in the film. This relationship is the film’s engine not its plot.

Whether you go along with the power that the pull of love has, a key idea within the film, is up to you. It will divide, and will probably be the major reason for someones opinion on the film. For me, the reason for Cooper’s drive is understandable, his mission into space is a means to end and a grand sacrifice on his part. To keep his family safe is all that matters to him. That link he has back to Earth, the thing that is pulling him home is something that we have all experienced, just not on quite as grand a scale.

Exposition, as an unproduced screenwriter, is something that at times,  you just have to do. You need the audience to know something and more than likely a few of your characters, so you try and dress it up, but it's still just a case of getting the information to them in as quick a time.

Now with Interstellar, there is a bit of exposition, not nearly as much as some reviews would have you believe, but when you are dealing with complex ideas, it's just best to rip the plaster off as quick as you can and get it over with.

During the final act of the film, Cooper makes a discovery (I'll be vague) and then begins to suggest who made it, now whether you believe what he says is really up to you. Cooper, has no way of backing it up, it's a good theory, but no way of proving it. This is something that harks back to an early conversation with Murphy.

How you approach the ending and overall message of the film, will for me have a big bearing on your opinion of the film. Whether you believe it is the truth, or just a wild theory to help understand where he is.

Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan have worked together on the majority of the director’s films now, starting with Batman Begins (where they were joined by James Newton Howard, also on The Dark Knight) and, barring The Prestige, all the way through to Interstellar. Here, we get a really interesting and at times perplexing score. As always with Zimmer, he isn't afraid to go big. And big they go, especially during the film’s high tension moments, we get a deep booming organ-esque sound, mixed in with some unsettling melody, that continues to ratchet up the tension still further. When it comes to the really small moments though, Zimmer dials it down and strips away the grandeur, giving us simple pieces that put the focus on the actors and the moments between them.

Nolan and his co-writer Jonathan Nolan have clearly been influenced and drawn from a real mix of films and real world events. A lot of these have been referenced by them in interviews (easily found on the internet). 2001 is an obvious one, not least because of Interstellar's finale, which certainly nods to the end of 2001, but it goes in a different direction with it. But where 2001 focused on humanity as a whole largely, spanning millions of years, Interstellar instead chooses to use the galaxy as a backdrop for the sacrifices a father and his family has to make.

The work of David Lean, in general his epics such as Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and more closely The Bridge Over The River Kwai, seems to have been an influence, especially on the narrative side. Kwai, in particular, where the plot starts off in one location, the prison camp, before switching to the effort to blow the bridge. A very stripped down narrative that lets its ideas come to the fore. Also, the sweeping landscapes of the farm and the planets in Interstellar, both on the ground and in space are shots worthy of any Lean film.

As with any Christopher Nolan film, the cast is packed with big names and award winners, some occupying only small three or four scene parts. One uncredited big time actor shows up for twenty sequences in the film that comes out of nowhere and really takes the film up a notch. Jessica Chastain, stuck on earth and working with Michael Caine's Dr Brand, is brilliant as she struggles with the seeminlgy endless cycle of failure when it comes to one vital part of the plan to save humanity. It's hard to go into anymore details about Chastain’s performance without giving much away, but her performance in the second half of the film comes at the right time to give us some perspective about just how bad Earth has become. Other stand outs are John Lithgow, as Cooper’s father in law, who is a man at times left to look after his dead daughter’s (we learn this in the third or fourth scene of the film) children, but also encourages his son-in-law to keep repopulating the planet.

Interstellar is a film filled with so many ideas and great performances that it needs all of its near three hour run time to give you everything you need. At times it may baffle you, especially during its final thirty minutes, but it is a film unlike anything you will see for a while. It reaches far and trusts that you go with it.

It may not be Christopher Nolan's best film, but when a film is this good, that kind of comparison seems utterly redundant.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan