Three weeks in a row? Can it happen that I see new movies 3 weeks in a row that are off-center and very interesting? Well, yes. The previous 2 weeks we saw Nightcrawler and Birdman, and this week it was Interstellar, a huge intellectual undertaking. The latest FX and scripting extravaganza from Chris Nolan is a real onslaught for viewers who are well versed in theoretical physics and cosmology. The movie takes place some decades in the future. Live on our little planet Earth is crashing from some vague problems that have resulted in depopulation, serious weather disruptions and a long-term dust bowl and blight that are eliminating crops, one at a time. Farming is a mortal challenge, between dust storms and drought and life on our little orb is in serious danger. Into this toxic mix comes the sad remnant of NASA. They contact Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who was formerly an astronaut and a possible candidate for a hail-Mary attempt at rescuing life, if only by evacuating earth via worm holes and black holes it to possible planets in another galaxy. Cooper is currently living a hardscrabble life with his family as a subsistence farmer, trying to grow corn, which is one of the last viable crops. Something, however, is very strange in Cooper’s house, subtle indications, mostly visible to his daughter, that something is going on. She thinks that is a ghost, and we just don’t know, but something about it seems important and becomes important late in the movie.
The daughter, Murphy, is devastated to find out that her father is about to leave home on a risky voyage that will probably last for many years if it IS a success, with a small crew that includes “Brand” (Anne Hathaway), on the way to a worm hole that will take them on an inter-galactic voyage to find somewhere to off-load the human race. What happens when they do reach the other side of the worm hole and what it means for the earth and its endangered residents is the rest of the story. Midway through the movie, we catch up with Murphy, now an adult, played by Jessica Chastain, having never completely recovered from the loss of her father, still trying to figure out some enigmatic clues left behind by him. The story stretches out over the life of Cooper’s children and encompasses the ultimate fate of the earth.
I found this to be a truly fascinating movie, but I don’t know that it will have the appeal of some other Nolan epic, notably The Dark Knight. It’s a complex movie, with a difficult, sometimes non-linear plot line and a pervasive feeling of gloom and doom. Nothing seems to be happening that will slow the decline of life on earth and it’s far from certain that Cooper’s and his crew’s voyage will amount to anything other than suicide in a far corner of the universe. In spite of its complexity, however, I’d rather see Interstellar than most movies and enjoyed struggling over whether I knew enough physics to find the plot holes. The acting is good, although the plot and spectacular effects often overshadow it.
We saw the movie in the new ultimate Cinemark theater in Towson, MD, in “XD”. The low frequency effects are often chair shaking and sometimes obscure the dialog. Image quality, however, is amazing, as is the immersiveness of the imagined environments on the huge, curved hi-def screen. As for the general feel, I found myself thinking about 2001 A Space Odyssey, Mission to Mars, the comet landing this past week, Commander Data (from Star Trek Next Generation), the book “The Worst Hard Time” (about the dust bowl) and Tree of Life a lot, especially given the non-linear plot and a lot of scenes of Jessica Chastain looking off into the distance with an ambivalent expression. Being somewhat of an armchair fan of physics and astronomy, I am familiar with the heavy science language of what’s being discussed here and I didn’t want to put much effort into looking for science bloopers. I can’t imagine NOT seeing a Christopher Nolan spectacular, and Interstellar did NOT disappoint.
