A Filmmaker's Review: "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)

For years, it has been considered as the epitome of Sci-Fi/Epic Drama and has won multiple accolades in the legacy of its release. At 52 years since it was first seen by a mass audience, there are many things in this era still that we can learn from "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). I have watched this film twice over the past ten to fifteen years and I want to show you why.

When I first watched 2001:A Space Odyssey, I was 14 years' old and I was watching it on the then early version of a streaming site. I had left a note to myself on my cloud calendar for 2020. The alarm on my calendar went off a few days ago and it told me to re-watch this film. Now, the first thing I did was start looking for the film and the second thing I did was question myself.

I questioned myself because of the fact that it would've made more sense if I had re-watched it at the 50th anniversary or even the 52nd anniversary of "2001" (1968) - for me to have left a note for myself to watch this in the middle of February seemed pretty odd and so, I started an investigation into why. I first tried to remember why, but I couldn't and so, I took a trip into my diaries of the past to see if I had left any notes as to why I had made myself watch this again, at the age of 24, in the middle of February.

The entry I found was made out for the 16th of February, 2010 and the most confusing this was that I had written more than usual on that particular day. I wondered why and so I began to read. I will transcribe here what is in my diary for that day. Don't worry, there is nothing secretive in these diaries. More or less, they are stories about myself for myself in the future to come back and read. These investigations though, they aren't fun. I look back through hundreds of pages of crap in order to find this one thing.

16/02/2010 - Annie, Aged 14

I have recently watched "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) at the request of a website. A film by Stanley Kubrick, I don't really understand too much of it but my favourite scene is just after the intermission when the man goes flying through space. It's a beautiful scene because everything is entirely silent for that minute or so and it has so much scenic value. There's so much to look at in that darkness ironically. HAL's voice creeps me out. The scene in which HAL's mind 'is going' is also one of my favourites. It is very well-made and I think that the tension is just right, being built constantly throughout the scene with that heavy breathing underneath. I want to watch it again but I don't know when. When I grow up, I want to do a degree in Film or something, I know that much. If I calculate it properly, I should safely have something like a degree or so finished by the age of 24. I'm not too good at Maths but that should be in 2020. I hope 2020 me understands and when I'm 24, I can have a whole new outlook on this and possibly, just possibly, understand it that so much better. Oh, and 24 year old me, there's another notification coming soon - it has something to do with The Matrix (1999) or something, I can't really remember. I hope you have a great time on your degree and see you then!

Let's get on with this review then. Do I know it better? Well, yes I do. Do I appreciate it more? Well, yes I do. I still love it as much as I did back then and my favourite scene still remains the same. I have come to appreciate more and the diary was correct, I did an MA in film and finished it just in time to watch this film again on the notification. Actually, I finished my MA about one and a half years' ago - but I gave myself some time just in case I wanted to take a gap year (which I didn't).

The best thing about this film, by far, is the way the story is told to us. The musical score and the visuals are the two things that make this an epic, otherwise it is just a glitzy space film. The brilliance of the music, especially that choir one that starts when the monolith appears to the apes, is just divine. I can honestly say that Kubrick went all-out on this one. The storytelling technique means we get high drama and several things happening at once. This doesn't mean multiple storylines, but this does mean we get one protagonist plus a multitude of things going on around him.

Some of the colour schemes are very inventive, although because of how my eyesight is, some of the red and blue settings in which the image becomes negative, is difficult to actually see because of the colours and light. However, this part of the film is beautifully scored and would, in fact, be nothing without its music. The uncomfortable screeching sound and the high-pitched nature of the music has become one of the icons of the film and one of the highlights when you watch it another time around.

The way in which the film builds tension and climaxes is amazing. It has almost an awesome power in which it creates a situation and then sticks a musical score over it and has people or things moving around slowly or being completely still. It is a great way to build tension and I think this film is the only film that does it entirely successfully in the whole film without a need for criticism. It is truly a beautifully made movie.