Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s epic space thriller, had a cosmic effect when it premiered in 2014.   At that time it had been over a decade in the making, having begun as a short story of sorts written by noted physicist Kip Thorne and Lynda Obst, who had produced the science fiction film Contact in 1997, starring Jodie Foster as a scientist striving to make first contact with extraterrestrial life.  Their story went through many revisions and even a Caltech workshop to make its science as robust as its cinematic storytelling.  The result, heralded as a poignant blend of science and art, dazzles and puzzles viewers on the protagonist’s whirlwind journey.

Generally, the film has been critiqued in terms of three acts, each equally sweeping. Beginning on earth, we are quickly introduced to Joseph Cooper (“Coop”) and his family, as well as the dying planet on which they live, struggling to survive during a catastrophic, prolonged dust bowl period.  In search of a solution that will save both his family and his planet, Coop embarks on a mission to survey distant planets that may be suitable for human resettlement.  The decision involves an emotional departure from his daughter, Murph, whose life becomes consumed by a gravitational equation that needs solving, and by the eternal wait for her father’s return.

The film has a deeply romantic character, though its romance is not of the typical kind seen in Hollywood. Instead, its messages convey something so powerful and intrinsic about love that it literally stretches across space and time.

Interstellar
2014
dir. Christopher Nolan
169 min.

Screens Tuesday, 9/20, 7:30PM @ Somerville Theatre– 70 mm!