The third in the series of Great Space Movies

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2016)

With 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tarkovsy's Solaris as the benchmark of brilliant space films, Interstellar is a great contribution to the two. Unlike 2001 and Solaris where alien and human interaction create another level of existence or a chance of redemption, Interstellar uses a time loop for humans to create their own advancement though knowledge of another dimension.
Many brilliant films have in common the transcendence of the basic story to tell truths about the human condition. Interstellar uses the state of the world today and future apocalyptic predictions to set the story in an era of food shortages and little hope. The shut down of the space program due to a redirection of resources to food production, includes the re-writing of history and propaganda measures to control the population. The father (Coop's) reaction to his daughter's behavior at school is something any anarchist can relate to.
The film is almost split into three sections, the lead up to leaving earth; space exploration; and a new beginning. The lead up examines the interaction of the family being split apart due to forces outside of their control. Space exploration is a wider canvas for the interaction of different personalities and how we resolve being apart from people we love and the sacrifices we make to achieve what we think is important. The new beginning looks at life past what we know and understand, and the need to communicate with loved ones we have lost, or at a much deeper level, the meaning of life.
Interstellar has great acting performances, beautiful if not ground breaking cinematography, with perfect sound and music, but over explains itself and could communicate more with less speech. The most powerful scenes have no speech. The poem spoken by the Michael Caine character could have been said once at the beginning of the film to have more impact and set the scene.
These are picky things in an otherwise excellent film.