Is the "Interstellar" the "2001: A Space Odyssey" of the 21st century?

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2014)

Is the "Interstellar" the "2001: A Space Odyssey" of the 21st century? Is it the masterpiece the (brilliant!) marketing team of Warner Bros. and Paramount tried to convince us that it is? I think not ... On the other hand, is it a highly personal, (over) ambitious, but also audiovisual epic cinematic work of one of the (less than the fingers of one's hand) really talented directors working at the moment in Hollywood, that has something to tell us, something to give us? The answer, here, is clearly "yes". Christopher Nolan wants something to tell us. If you think about it, the "Interstellar" is not really original. It's a balanced combination of last year's "Gravity" of Cuarón (released exactly one year ago, on November 7, 2013), and "Inception" (2010), directed also by Nolan, with very clear influences from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"(1977) of Spielberg and the "The Abyss" (1989) of Cameron. Throw in the mixer the "Contact" (1997) of Zemeckis (in which oddly was playing also McConaughey) and -voilà-: Behold the "Interstellar"! Even so, the direction of Nolan is, as always, excellent, while the audiovisual part nothing less than exquisite. The photo of Hoyte van Hoytema is breathtaking, while for the Hans Zimmer's soundtrack what to say, the man is "from another planet". The melancholic motif we listen to throughout the film is really a masterpiece. And then we reach the "black hole" of the film, which is not other than the script. Firstly, it should be noted that the film is to a very large extent scientifically accurate. The theoretical physicist Kip Thorne was general consultant of the film, from the design and preproduction to shooting and visual effects, and the brother of the director and screenwriter of the film, Jonathan Nolan, studied several of the chapters of the "Theory of Relativity" at the California Institute of Technology, while writing the screenplay. As Thorne said: «Whatever you see on your screen is based on the General Theory of Relativity of Einstein». On the other hand, however, the screenplay of "Interstellar" faces a problem: It devotes much of the film to human relationships, which (although I'm sure that was written with the best of intentions), unfortunately is grafted with countless moments of dramatical cliché, which is trying to hide behind the direction of really great Nolan. Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes not. But these 169 minutes (which are not as tedious as they sound) should not for any reason conclude with such a simple message as: "Love is the driving force of the universe." So when I listen to critics and say: "Interstellar" is great, but Nolan is not Kubrick», they are undoubtedly right. Even so, no doubt that the "Interstellar" is a film that should be seen in the dark movie theater and especially a huge screen, not on TV or on your PC, when eventually come out in Blu-Ray. Personally, I will see the movie for a second time, because, despite of the drawbacks, the "Interstellar" is not a movie that will be forgotten easily and, if anything, Christopher Nolan is a master when he wants to give -food for thought- to the hungry for movie audience.