Meditative Movie With Complex Contemplation

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2012)

There have been Books Written about this Film. A Distinction reserved for very few. The Wizard of Oz (1939)...Citizen Kane (1940)...King Kong (1933) are among the Elite. This is enough to Elevate this Evolutionary Story and Seminal Work to a Status that is almost Beyond Criticism and is only Open to Interpretation.
The number of those Interpretations are as Mind-Boggling as the Film itself. It not only is one of the most Meticulous Efforts in Movie History, it virtually remains without an aging look or a dated pretension.
The Visual representation of Space Travel, the Electronic Technicalities, the Dumbed Down Humans with very little to Contribute Intellectually or Verbally, and the overwhelming Musical and Sound overlays are but just a few of the Flawless Prognostications.
To say that it is a Meditative Movie with Complex Contemplation would be Accurate. To say that the Pacing is Slow would be an Understatement. But to say that it is a Failure as Art or Entertainment would be a Conceit that is Without Foundation.
It is Ultra-Art. It is a Pristine Picture with an Ambiance befitting its Philosophical and Cosmological Story. One cannot come away from this Film without an Opinion.
Even if that Personal Reflection is one of Disdain, it has achieved its Purpose to Enlist a Reaction. It is a Visionary, Visceral View of Ourselves and a Commentary on Our Purpose and Place in this incredibly Vast and Vacant Universe that is as Old as Time and as New as Our Experiences and Expectations can Allow.
Trying to Quantify and Describe this Universe and Our Place in it is most likely a Futile Exercise in Ethnocentrism, but that doesn't stop Poets, Writers, Artists, and Scientists from trying. So here is one of those Examples and one of the Most Impressive.