Based on Arthur C Clarke’s short story ’The Sentinel’, 2001: A Space Odyssey redefined the sci-fi genre. With its radical structure (a single cut elides 4 million years), scant dialogue and oblique narrative this was the first movie to emulate the philosophical seriousness of writers like Clarke and Philip K Dick, and the first to see that special effects could become an integral component in the art-form.
The film’s pacing is deeply unfashionable (except in the art-house) but seen on the big screen it still holds up as a spellbindingly immersive experience. Made at the height of excitement around the space age – just a year before the first Moon landing – the movie combines a typically cold Kubrickian rationalism with a genuine sense of awe, mystery, and (often overlooked), beauty.
2001 came in at #6 in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll of critics and academics, but topped the list voted by film directors.
Sunday’s screening in our PANTHEON series will feature free refreshments and a short introduction by an expert in the field.
Stanley Kubrick
Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
UK/USA
1968
English
Book Tickets
Sunday July 16
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Producer
Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter
Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
Cinematography
Geoffrey Unsworth
Editor
Ray Lovejoy
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2001: A Space Odyssey
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