On my top ten: #4

Rating: Null/10 (12 July 1999)

By the time I had seen "2001: A Space Odyssey" on the big screen, I had already seen it a dozen times on video cassette. Personally, it's an odyssey in my film education. It taught me, first and foremost, patience with beauty. The first time I saw it, I was confused by its convoluted plot and infuriated by its groggy pace. The more times I went back to see it, the more I matured as a student of film. Since then, armed with my newfound, infinite patience (which has been tested more times than I care to count), I have witnessed some really terrific films that I would have otherwise blown off. Let me tell you, I've got Attention Deficit Disorder, (like most folks these days, it seems), but it's not debilitating -- it's not a syndrome or a disease, just a stupid disorder. It makes the treasures I've found that much more sweet, and one of them is this movie. Let me tell you, if you can't hack deliberately paced and slow books, pieces of music, and films, you're going to end up missing out on a lot of really great things in this lifetime. Then you'll be dead, wishing "Gee, if only I'd given such-and-such a chance."
That's what "2001" means for me. Seeing the movie on the big screen was one of the finest artistic experiences I've had in my life, right up there with the time I saw "The King and I" with Yul Brynner, shortly before his death. It's scope, majesty, and hypnotic power have been talked and analyzed to death, so I won't expound on them any further.