LOST IN THE STARS // A FILM REVIEW OF "INTERSTELLAR"
If a WRINKLE IN TIME, the childhood classic could have a baby with the space thriller APOLLO 13, you would get this film. Admittedly, I was daunted at first by the almost 3-hour run time. However, by the end of the viewing, I found myself hoping for more. It’s possible that I could easily have watched that film for another 2 hours without commenting on the need for a bathroom break. My film companion, my father, is a male in his mid-fifties who believes in mercilessly drinking diet coke while at a movie, and he didn’t get out of his seat for a trip to the lavatory a single time. Old man bladder be damned!
The story is absolutely riveting, and incredibly expansive. It starts out in our near future on earth, where our planet is dying out. Matthew McConaughey plays a scientist-gone-farmer who decides to go to the final frontier as a last hope for human kind. The cast is packed with some of my favorites. Anne Hathaway plays a logic driven co-astronaut, Michael Caine her ageing father, and Jessica Chastain plays Matthew McConaughey’s brilliant minded heroic daughter. To deal with the difficult themes and hard-hitting struggles of humanity that are presented on full, raw display, you need a cast of this magnitude.
McConaughey’s performance specifically struck me as poignant. His character is pushed to every limit of the human condition in just under three hours. He loses his family, his long-held notions, and nearly his life. I found his brutally honest attack with this role absolutely fantastic.
My one qualm with the film is that there is one specific idea that doesn’t get fleshed out. The idea of “aliens” or “a greater being” in the universe is presented during a pivotal moment in the film and appears in one line of dialogue. It’s possible that one line is enough for a smarter person, but I wanted more. I needed more clarity. I mean, as an audience member I’ve already invested two and half hours at that point, I could’ve lasted an extra fifteen minutes in the theatre for some sort of explanation. One line of dialogue about such a large concept just wasn’t enough process time and felt extremely rushed.
CHRISENA'S GRADE: A-
Written by: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan Directed by: Christopher Nolan RATED: PG-13
Starring: Matther McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Michael Caine
FINAL THOUGHTS: Gripping, intriguing, somewhat confusing and highly entertaining.
CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.