A decade ago, “Interstellar” captivated me like no other film had before or since.

With its unique story, moving score and amazing performances, “Interstellar” was destined to become an instant classic. The film remains one of Christopher Nolan’s best and is a testament to his prowess as a director.

Matthew McConaughey stars as Cooper, a former NASA pilot who is called back into action to save an Earth slowly becoming uninhabitable due to crop blight, among other existential terrors.

NASA, or what’s left of it, tasks Cooper to pilot the Endurance ship, along with several scientists, with the dire hope of pioneering a new home for the human race. Before he can leave Earth, however, Cooper must say goodbye to his daughter Murph. 

Murph, portrayed by Mackenzie Foy as a child and by Jessica Chastain as an adult, takes after her father and is more interested in outdated space textbooks than how to most efficiently harvest corn.

The love shared by Murph and Cooper and their yearning to reunite is a profound theme throughout the film and is especially impressive considering they are separated by billions of light years for a majority of the almost 3-hour runtime.

With a film that invests itself so heavily in concepts like wormholes and 4th-dimensional spaces, I find it interesting how Nolan uses these complicated ideas as a means to explore deeply personal themes, particularly sacrifice and loss.

I also enjoy the juxtaposition established early in the film between Cooper and the world around him. Cooper, who never stopped wondering about his place in the stars, is at odds with a world that has abandoned the idea of space exploration in favor of salvaging what little bit of habitability Earth has left. 

Is Cooper naive? Undoubtedly. Is his hope misguided? I don’t think so.

In fact, it’s Cooper’s naive curiosity, regardless of the utilitarian benefits of pursuing such curiosity, which drives him to take up the mission in the first place. He does what is best for the planet, but his own personal motivations are emphasized just as much.

“Interstellar” is also lauded for its unmatched scientific accuracy.

Nolan’s commitment to accuracy in a science fiction film, a genre rife with creative liberties and blatant disregard for the laws of physics, set the gold standard for future films in the genre.

Nolan consulted renowned theoretical physicist Kip Thorne throughout the film’s production. Together, they combed through every frame in excruciating detail, ensuring that every moment, from the Endurance launch to the black hole scenes, was depicted as accurately as possible. 

Of course, some artistic liberties had to be taken. But when a theoretical physicist says the most inaccurate part of your film about interstellar travel via wormholes is the depiction of ice clouds on another planet, I think you’ve done a good enough job.

However, “Interstellar” is far from perfect and contains its fair share of common Nolan pitfalls. Notably, sound mixing that feels the need to loudly remind the audience of the amazing score at the most inopportune moments. 

Perhaps the most egregious example occurs when a character, with their last breath, reveals a critical plot twist. What is supposed to be a moment of shock and dread is instead met with confusion as the audience scrambles to piece together the dialogue among the roaring music.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the work of Hans Zimmer, the film’s composer, but dialogue should be prioritized over score.

When the music isn’t drowning out bloated exposition, another bad habit of Nolans, it’s utterly enthralling. I still choke up any time I hear that short motif that pervades almost every song in the film.

Ultimately, “Interstellar” isn’t my favorite film because of the cinematography, score, or McConaughey — this movie is special to me because I used to watch it nonstop with my dad. 

We never watched the film in IMAX, or even in a traditional theater, we watched the movie on our old TV in such awful quality that it would’ve made Nolan cry. But we weren’t watching it for the pretty visuals. Even if we didn’t know it at the time, what we were really paying attention to was the relationship between Murph and Cooper.

The connection these two characters preserve throughout the film, the thread that keeps them going despite being separated by an almost inconceivable distance, is a special kind of bond that I think I subconsciously tried to replicate with my dad.

“Interstellar” undeniably left its mark on science fiction, but for me, it will always be about something far simpler: a shared love of film and the power of connection that transcends time and space.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment