DAY 4: "A film with a number in the title."
I had a tough time trying to pick a title for today, but the winner is… 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).
Some runners up:
16 BLOCKS, the Bruce Willis/Mos Def film that I happened to catch on cable a few years ago, got hooked enough to stick with it, and ultimately found it surprisingly affecting, which I’m chalking up to my strong sentimental streak;
SUPER 8, which I found enjoyable throughout, although the actual main storyline I found forgettable. This film has one of my favorite sequences, when the kids, amateur filmmakers, are shooting a scene for a Super 8 film at the train station and the boys suddenly realize the girl they cast in the film (for perhaps other reasons) can really act, but then suddenly the train comes and crashes and we’re back to the main story (whatever)…;
1941, Steven Spielberg’s first flop, an expensive and critical flop which he made up for in spades with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but I still like this extremely loud and unsubtle comedy;
1900, a Bernardo Bertolucci film that I saw years ago in a theater (in Pittsburgh?). I remember finding it vividly directed, but I’ve forgotten lots of it, too… I’ll need to revisit it;
THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION, because, well, what a great title, and a wonderfully goofy movie… Jeff Goldblum and his furry, white cowboy chaps! And I still occasionally say, “I don’t give a flying handshake..!”;
And another film that I’ll actually use later in this challenge…
But back to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (based on Clarke's novel).
Love that this is a merger of sci-fi film and art film, arguably an experimental film as well. Years ago I had a book edited by Jerome Agel, THE MAKING OF KUBRICK’S 2001. Full of cool articles and topics related to the film, among them audience and cultural reactions. Included was an outline analyzing the film, breaking down scenes and considering the meanings, which was written by a female high school student. Kubrick actually read it (either she or a teacher of hers mailed it to him?) and he was impressed by her thoughts on the film. If I’m remembering correctly, the student had plans to do scientific research and one scientific question she considered was whether or not the soul can be located in one’s DNA, like an actual element, which was a fascinating idea. Anyway, at some point years ago, I misplaced the Agel book, but somewhat recently, I was delighted to discover another copy at a used bookstore.
One of my favorite film transitions of all time is the understandably famous one from 2001, from the prehistoric past of the DAWN OF MAN sequence to the futuristic year of 2001 with a bone as murder weapon (well, tool) thrown up into the air, “flying” in slow motion and then the sudden cut to the Pan Am space clipper heading to the moon, a clever combination of visual images and intellectual ideas.
I did see 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in the theater once and I’m wondering if that was my first time watching it. It’s quite possible. It was at the Four Seasons in Niagara Falls and I remember my mom took me (us? I think one or two school friends came as well... Steve? Peter? NOTE: Steve and Pete and myself went to the movies fairly regular during high school, hence...). During the sequence when the astronaut, Bowman (played by Keir Dullea), is traveling through the atmosphere of Jupiter and it starts getting way psychedelic, even psycho-delic, my mom started grabbing my arm really hard, because the posterized aerial shots of the landscapes started getting to her and she was trying not to scream.
I know a guy who is a writer for the Washington Post (yes, I’m pseudo-name dropping without, uh, actually dropping a name) and he’s an eloquent cinephile, but he is NO fan of 2001. I think he described it once as equivalent to “looking at a rock.”
Too bad for him, but I think 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is great from beginning to end and I love how it strongly elevated and expanded the sci-fi film genre in terms of what other kinds of stories could be told in that genre beside pulpy escapism. A very inspirational work on several levels.
#30DayFilmChallenge
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