Don't look for explanations -- embrace the unknown

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2006)

In this world of 24-hour TV news stuffing our brains with millions of ready-made explanations and opinions about everything under the sun, we've come to *crave* explanation. We needs things sorted out and tied off. We need closure.
2001 is a very unconventional piece of storytelling, as much a work of abstract art as it is a narrative. The movie is about humans exploring the unknown -- and finding things that they cannot understand. And flying in the face of our desire for explanation, the movie explains very little. Instead, we experience events as the characters experience them: awed, and utterly uncomprehending.
I'd always loved this movie, but hadn't appreciated just how specular it is until I had a chance to see it on the big screen at the Heights Theater (a a lovely Twin Cities art house place with a working theater organ!). Then I realized: you aren't *supposed* to understand what's going on -- not at the start, not at the end. You are supposed to be mystified and utterly overwhelmed. I don't mean overwhelmed by huge explosions or lots of lots of rumbling THX bass gimmicks; I mean overwhelmed by a sense that the universe is vast, and we humans are tiny and ignorant.
I think people often don't like this masterful movie because they expect explanations, and are disappointed. If you're seeing it for the first time, expect to understand nothing. It's about the experience, not explanations. See it on a big screen if possible, and embrace the confusion!