New Nolan Favourite -'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Now, this is a film I’ve been dying to see for donkey’s years, especially after I learnt who Mr Nolan was by watching Inception, not knowing he was the same director of the Dark Knight films, which, as a fan of superheroes growing up, were a favourite. My only excuse for not seeing Interstellar was the quality of the viewing experience I wanted; it’s three hours long, set in space, and infamously has a near-perfect auditory experience. So, when I was home at Christmas with my cousin, who is only a fan of actually good films, and they heard I hadn’t seen it, it was the perfect timing to pop it on the quality TV at my parents’ house at 11:30 pm.

Interstellar follows engineer, pilot, and farmer Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, in a dystopian future where Earth is practically uninhabitable, with dust everywhere and food resources depleting rapidly. Classic space plot: he, along with a team of astronauts including Anne Hathaway’s Brand, sets off to find a new planet for humans, but add in black holes, relativity, and morally questionable scientists for some extra fun along the ride. Unlike Nolan’s other films, I found Interstellar relatively easy to follow. The general plot was simple, with an ending that is mind-bending but not one I’m questioning—I’m happy with the alternative form of reality it introduced. It was a walk in the park to wrap my head around compared to Inception.

Being a fan of good films goes hand in hand with enjoying a good film score, and when it comes to composing, Hans Zimmer might be the greatest of all time. Moreover, many argue this to be Zimmer’s greatest composition—a suggestion I don’t disagree with. Like many, I had heard and could easily recognise the Interstellar score, with cinematic and iconic tracks like ‘Cornfield Chase’ recognised globally. I had listened to the score more times than I could count well before I sat down to watch the film, enjoying the uplifting, mysterious, and spatial nature of it. Hearing it this time as the backdrop for the film was perfect. It made scenes that were meant to be dramatic and exciting feel dramatic and exciting, and made scenes that were meant to be nostalgic but crushing feel exactly that: nostalgic but crushing. Zimmer’s score, plus Nolan’s writing, plus McConaughey’s performance, created one of the rawest, most emotional, profound scenes when Cooper watches years of messages sent from home.

The sound of the film in general was so close to what I would have considered perfection. Zimmer’s score and the powerful use of silence prompted an immense feeling of isolation as we watched the characters float through space. Therefore, I was especially annoyed and overall disappointed at the sound mixing quality. I sat with the TV remote on my lap the whole time so I could adjust the volume constantly, struggling to hear the dialogue as it was drowned out by music or action scenes jumping in volume so drastically I was rushing to turn it down. Can’t be waking up the entire household!

Nolan is known for creating blockbuster, head-scrambling epics, but this is often hard to inject with the human condition. Concepts of relativity, dystopian futures, and potential self-genocide due to overexploiting the planet we inhabit are all a bit complex to appeal to the heart. Interstellar was packed with love, nostalgia, and the depressing knowledge that we grow old. As someone who is a hostage “woman in STEM” and with a huge soft side, this film was so up my alley. Upon finishing the film, I sat in my family home’s living room feeling dazed, thrilled, and smiling with weeping eyes. Will definitely be watching—or should I say experiencing—again.

Evie 30 December 2022