Beyond what you can possibly imagine.

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2018)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a peculiar movie, no, peculiar is too negatively connoted and does not measure to this masterpiece; 2001: A Space Odyssey is a unique, transcendental, mind-blowing experience.
For it to be one of the most memorable cinematic moments of your life, you have to watch it in certain conditions. I personally first watched this movie on DVD, in my couch, on a TV, with a normal sound system. The memory I recall from my first viewing was good, although it didn't meet my expectations. Because when you see everyone saying that this movie is a masterpiece, unique in its genre (what I actually said in the beginning) you then have high expectations and you do not only expect for the movie to be good, you are also hoping for emotions, sensations you can only feel while viewing this movie. Unfortunately the emotion, the little je ne sais quoi, didn't come to me nor to my living-room. But the enigma of the whole movie started to germinate in me, I wanted to understand what I had witnessed. However, the little seed only germinated and never blossomed.
The day Kubrick's masterpiece blossomed was the day where I finally went to see it where it should be watched and where all movies exist, live and die, in that dark room where the simple act of pushing a door and sitting down gives you the power of becoming invisible to others and yet embark on a journey with anyone who decided to sit in the dark with you. Yes, the movie theater. I can still remember the state I was in when the credits started rolling: shaking like a leaf, my blood whirring through my entire body, hands shaking, leg muscles tensing up; I had just experienced a whole new feeling. The silences (sometimes boring) didn't of course miraculously disappear, but I can tell you, just changing sound system, I rediscovered this film. I recall hearing about a nun that would've watched the movie and never experienced such a religious trance, she felt close to God. I can understand her, although I am not religious at all, this movie has this inexplicable power, puts you under a spell.
Kubrick also confirms by that movie, once again, that he is a master to his art, he excels and imposes his visionary style and ideas that are still relevant today. But to fully have a thorough 2001 experience, you should watch it at least two times but you must watch it at least once in a movie theater. So enjoy the fact that there are rereleases of the movie the 50th anniversary to discover something that is yet unknown to your emotional spectrum.