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Aug. 11th, 2007
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Aug. 11th, 2007 11:24 pmAmazingly, I made it through the whole of the film of 2001, for the first time in years.
All I've got to do now is go to sleep. Ha ha ha.
Whether you like the film or not (and there are several reasons to dislike it, not least the fact it's total gibberish), it's hard to gainsay Kubrick's nerve in the way it's made. The building up of suspense by having nothing happen (or something happen v...e...r...y slowly), the long periods of silence, the long visuals. There are moments, especially when the breathing and the hiss of air puts you in the spacesuit with Poole, that you feel your brain clambering out of your skull for escape. Well, thta's the case if you are receptive to its immersive technique - if you're not, it will bore you absolutely rigid.
In some ways, the famous last 25 minutes is something of a relief. Roughly equivalent to watching the Rites of Spring sequence from Fantasia on very bad acid, it's not suspenseful, exactly, just weird, and once you accept that, it's easier to relax into than the preceding hour.
I don't foresee my watching it again any time in the near future, and it's going to take at least an hour of John Betjeman before bed to return me to some sense of normality, but I'm glad I watched it again.
Now if anyone needs me, I'll be curled up in the foetal position, trying not to float off into the universe.
All I've got to do now is go to sleep. Ha ha ha.
Whether you like the film or not (and there are several reasons to dislike it, not least the fact it's total gibberish), it's hard to gainsay Kubrick's nerve in the way it's made. The building up of suspense by having nothing happen (or something happen v...e...r...y slowly), the long periods of silence, the long visuals. There are moments, especially when the breathing and the hiss of air puts you in the spacesuit with Poole, that you feel your brain clambering out of your skull for escape. Well, thta's the case if you are receptive to its immersive technique - if you're not, it will bore you absolutely rigid.
In some ways, the famous last 25 minutes is something of a relief. Roughly equivalent to watching the Rites of Spring sequence from Fantasia on very bad acid, it's not suspenseful, exactly, just weird, and once you accept that, it's easier to relax into than the preceding hour.
I don't foresee my watching it again any time in the near future, and it's going to take at least an hour of John Betjeman before bed to return me to some sense of normality, but I'm glad I watched it again.
Now if anyone needs me, I'll be curled up in the foetal position, trying not to float off into the universe.