Just finished watching Interstellar, the nightcap to one of the longest days in recent memory. The day started around 6 AM and pounded relentlessly until, well, now. The last part was the sugary stuff. Christopher Nolan’s space-time epic is one of a few to actually get a bit of the science right. Neil deGrasse Tyson even tweeted a bit of praise about the handling of space-time. He blasted several other things about the film, but that’s just how he rolls.
How I roll is to dig into the story and uncover what human elements lie beneath. This is largely where I think the film goes wrong. At the root, Interstellar is a film about the relationship between a father and daughter and the abandonment issues that string them together like a spider’s web. That relationship is sensible and feels real–as do the majority of connections in the film. Where the film dims a bit is the character of son, who is basely performed by Casey Affleck.
The film sells the father-daughter relationship, but the son is left to toil as an unimportant and largely forgettable character who is, at one point, villainized. I am given to believe that the director’s cut will explain more of that storyline. I hope I’m correct. In the meanwhile, I just enjoyed a great movie that left me thinking about the relative nature of time and about the way I think about family relationships.
Some Thoughts:
- Not surprisingly, children’s opinions hinge on those who they highly respect. Two of my boys are now Obama haters. One because his teacher bad mouthed the prez and the other because his brother aped the teacher. I get where she is coming from–disappointment with the ‘handling’ of Ebola–but you cannot blame every mocked up crisis on one dude. Obama followed the CDC’s lead–as he should and even went a step further and hired a Washington insider to help the doctors navigate the politics of the press and of the city itself. Too bad she didn’t get it, because now my kid thinks Obama is a bad president.