Top 20 Movie Interstellar (2014) ranks 12th in Matt Lynn Digital’s Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing. This gem as directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan also holds the distinction with Calvary (2014) as the second published in the 21st century to be distinguished by a Matt Lynn Digital listing.
Beyond being a fantastic movie with complicated science and science-fiction theming aligned with overcoming environmental threats to planet Earth, we at Matt Lynn Digital are impressed with the notion that brought Christopher Nolan with “his cerebral, often nonlinear storytelling” to this project. As indicated by Michelle Lanz with Cameron Kell in The Frame:
Christopher Nolan “said it was actually the family themes in “Interstellar” that attracted him to the project, one that he hopes will bring back the glory days of the classic family blockbuster and inspire its audience to dream big.”
It’s interesting to hear Nolan frame the movie in those terms, for the movie delves into some emotionally intense themes. For one example, the movie depicts a future Earth full of dust storms and a worsening food shortage; the storytelling implies a frightening scale of human death.
Ostensibly in response to that, you see Cooper (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey) leave his father (portrayed by John Lithgow) and kids (15-year-old Tom and 10-year-old Murph) behind to pursue a long shot attempt to save humanity by flying into a black hole. Later, the fight between Cooper and Mann (as portrayed by Matt Damon) results in one astronaut breaking the helmet visor of the other. Further, one of these two pushes the other off a cliff on a foreign planet, betraying the mental harshness of deep space.
Family is certainly at the center of the Cooper and Murph storyline. The dynamic between Brand (played by Anne Hathaway) and Professor Brand (portrayed by Michael Caine) further cement the notion that Christopher Nolan isn’t wrong in saying that family feelings are relevant to Interstellar. In fact, I think that these story lines are central to providing some emotional pull to the quality of the story here.
The truth is that in the Christopher Nolan universe of movies, Interstellar is perhaps the most family-heavy movie he has offered us. The remaining quality is the science fiction themes of invoking a very cerebral notion of applying Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity in invoking multiple notions for experiencing the passage of time. The further notion of extending the use of worm holes is intriguing. The essential resolution of the film partakes in a notion that Nolan articulated for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), namely that (in Nolan‘s view) as shared in The Frame:
both movies have “a lot of complicated science…that you don’t need to understand when you first watch…You really need to go along with the emotions of the characters and follow the emotional story…”
Interstellar is not a family movie in the sense that Matt Lynn Digital reviewed Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Toy Story would be, for sure. The Sci-Fi theming is particularly pleasing for me, as is the overall cinematic quality. Consider seeing, or rewatching this movie.
Matt – Thursday, March 16, 2017
Matt Lynn Digital 