That had never occurred to me but I'm sure you're right. I wasn't a parent when I watched it the first time. I have a daughter now. I will rewatch it and I am sure I will ugly cry.
I wish I could understand why people hate it. I LOVED it and was so moved by it, and my husband thought it was cringe and boring. He judges me HARD for loving it so much. It’s one of the few things we truly don’t understand about each other, and it baffles me. We are not parents, if that matters.
i just rewatched it for the first time and not only does it quite obviously highlight his fascination with time as a concept/construct, but the parent part of it completely grounds the story in a way that even just "lets save humanity" wouldnt be able to. he really nailed it with that one
It always flabbergasts me that people talk about him being dry and unemotional when, again, what is arguably his masterpiece is an ode to how much he hates when his work takes him away from his children
This is absolutely correct. I enjoyed it before kids, and now I turn into an absolute puddle for the last 20 minutes of the movie when the multi-dimensional, galaxy-sized plot becomes about a parent and a child.
My kids are in their late 20s, and it still wrecks me. The soundtrack alone has me tearing up every time I hear it in my head. Which is happening right now.
(I love Arrival, but I absolutely will not let my partner watch it because I know exactly what it will do to her and I want no responsibility for that.)
I spent opening night in the theater thinking about how pitiful its ethics and priorities were (especially compared to fellow “let’s go to space to save humanity” movie Sunshine), but I think I owe it a rewatch ten years and one child later.
The short story that Arrival is based on, "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, is the best piece of science fiction that I have read that was not written by Ursula LeGuin.
A perfect reflection on sciency views of time and the the painful joy of being human, in a brilliantly executed bit of prose.
Thanks a lot for this 'timely' post! By coincidence I've been recently listening to the score by the incredible Hans Zimmer. Will definitely watch the movie again now.
I’ve rewatched since, it but still think about the first time in the theater and just being a mess as the main character (and audience) realize how much time he lost.
Watched this at a ripe 20 years old, not a parent, sobbed! I haven’t been able to rewatch bc I get emotional just thinking about it. Still not a parent
think one of his storytelling gaps is genuine human feeling (zimmer's scores do heavy lifting here). he's more adept at high-concept plotting. it's really apparent with romantic elements - it's tough for audiences to fill in from their own experience. but the parent stuff translates instantly.
like, the cooper-brand stuff mostly falls flat (the "detach" part wouldn't be nearly as impactful without the score.) i can't do much about the lack of chemistry & clunky writing even though i've experienced human romance. but once i had a daughter all the murph stuff just destroys me every time.
This for Interstellar and Arrival for me. Arrival is the first movie my husband and I saw together after having our daughter. It’s hard to revisit even though it’s fantastic.
I watched it before having kids, then recently as we were reviewing it for https://ifreakinglovethatmovie.com - now having 3 daughters... it does hit differently when you are a parent.
There's just something so gut-wrenching about legacy, sacrifice that the movie just nails in an intimate AND grand scale.
I could see that being the case for a lot of people. I find it devastating even without children, myself. It's continually shuffled around in my Top 3 for him ever since it first released.
Yeah, saying that loving people who have died has no social utility was just dumb. You *remember* people, so of course you remember if you loved them or hated them or still have a bone to pick with them or whatever. Memory is necessary for a society. That's what transcends time.
I enjoyed it when I first saw it. Then my dad died and I went through it, eventually got pregnant and had a son. Entirely different experience now! (it was really good then as well)
I love everything Christopher Nolan except for Tenet. Tenet is enjoyable and I am in awe of the attempt at what he was trying to do but I think it's the one where his reach finally exceeded his grasp and he didn't land it.
Tenet is one of the most audacious failures I’ve ever seen and I think it should be included in the Nolan canon b/c dreaming that big is a beautiful thing to do.
Maybe in another decade or two some new team will take up the mantle and try it again and maybe it will even work that time.
I think the window for it is over. Nolan had this clearly unspoken deal where as long as he kept making Dark Knight movies the studio would let him do wildly experimental huge budget moonshot movies in between releases and now I just don't think anyone in Hollywood has the backing to try.
The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar and Tenet represent basically a huge mic drop by our last dominant director god and nobody is going to take risks like that or have the artistic taste for it for a long long time.
Our new billionaires just want to make remakes but without diverse casts.
I literally saw it in theaters with my dad (who works for NASA as an engineer). 30 minutes of us cracking jokes about how "nobody ever listens to the engineers" followed by two straight hours of openly weeping in our seats
It was amazing before! Just my read of it now is so different. 10 years ago my physicist father was still alive & I wasn’t a mom. I related to Murph. Watching it again tonight, my dad 8 years gone and my daughter 7 years old… I related to Coop!
Ah, okay! I understand! I haven't had a child of my own yet and I haven't really related much to Coop, but I most definitely related to Murph. I love how our perspectives change with experience and time!
Or can speak to aging and maturation process, which parenting is a hyper focused iteration of. I do know it’s not an immediately easy movie - I loved it on first viewing, but couldn’t have told you why. I understand more with each subsequent viewing - and I will stop to watch anytime it’s on.
Yes! Inside Out is one those movies too. My wife and I went to see it shortly after becoming parents, so the kid was just a pooping and crying potato, and it hit us somewhat. More recent rewatches, however, just destroy us completely.
I'm not arguing against that, but I will say that it's the most emotionally devastating film I've ever seen, and I don't have kids and don't intend to.
I saw this when it came out in college and did not care for its sentimentality, I know it would hit me like an Oxygen Destroyer if I went back to it now
those people are heartless. like yeah i can see getting mad that the secret to time travel is love but a dude watching his daughter grow up because work took him away from her? come on!
Also true for people who have lost a parent — my mom died 2 years before it came out and I wept when I watched it. It’s one of those great pieces of art that understands that particular grief in a really profound way. 🖤
I haven't rewatched it since I became a parent, and I think it's time I do so. I'm going to have to do it in the privacy of my own home, though. I sobbed the first time I saw it, and I know that this next time I'm going to be a blubbering mess.
1000%. My wife is about to see it for the first time. She doesn’t like sci-fi and is uncertain rather than excited. I told her she’ll connect with it way more than she thinks because it is the quintessential movie about being a parent. It just happens to have space stuff too!
I was genuinely shocked to discover how becoming a parent cranked up my emotional response for films like this - see also Arrival, Aftersun, Eighth Grade (bonfire scene killed me), Shoplifters…
Im not a parent but Shoplifters hit me hard, then The Florida Project, ugh emotions! Check out Koreeda’s Like Father Like Son cuz that one… hoooo boy. Actually made me want to have kids
@jamellebouie.net when my spouse was pregnant she caught me in the fetal position by the end. To me it’s similar to GDT’s Pinocchio articulating something beautiful that sounds trite to non parents
I recently re-read Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" (the story that Denis Villeneuve's Arrival was based on) for the first time since becoming a parent, and that absolutely hit differently. I hadn't thought of Interstellar, but I'll be adding it to my watch list now.
Holy shit you're right. I watched it a couple weeks ago, which is the first time I've seen it since my daughter was born and my word did it hit me like a truck.
I agree with your first point too - Incredible work of art. I don't know why we aren't discussing it more.
you gotta admit that the random spaceship hangar inventory guy's "wha wha whaaaa...!" double take at the end of the movie is a bizarre and wild way to end it though.
Like, Cooper's mom is basically the President of humanity, she said to go do it, why didn't they just send this poor guy a memo, lol
I’ve been unable to bring myself to watch it again despite really wanting to (it was awesome) b/c I really don’t want experience the profound sadness again.
Every tick on the water planet ate at my soul.
The whole sequence of seeing the pain that will occur and choosing that life anyway because of the love and joy that will also accompany it. I could tear up now just thinking about it 😂
I love them both - a rarity for me.
I loooove sci-fi, but am very, very picky about books and movies (and generally, most movies are really stupid, to me...).
On the flip, I think if you aren't a parent and aren't going to become a parent, it feels oppresively not for you and coming from a guy who is sitting back and feeling so great about being a dad. I don't hate on that, but it's grating if it's not part of your identity.
Yeah, this conversation smacks of "those who aren't parents wouldn't understand." Not being a parent doesn't make you an unfeeling robot. That scene with McConaughey was devastating.
I probably should have framed my reaction as “felt” not “feels.” Mine is clearly not universal, but neither is your reaction. The punch of the film reminded me of the joke in Airplane, “well at least I’m married!”
Not meaning to pile on you, sorry. I think sometimes it's unconscious in this sort of discussion. I get becoming a parent comes with a massive shift in perspective. For what it's worth, I think I would have been less affected if I'd been 15 years younger. Life changes you.
I didn't really rate it; some of the performances were excellent and I enjoyed the cinematography, but the story, characters and world building choices left me fairly cold. Possibly I'd enjoy it more on a rewatch, the cinema I saw it in was having audio issues which didn't help.
It's in IMAX right now. I've seen it a hundred times. But it felt like a first time watch. I literally gasped at the sheer scope of a scene I'd watched a hundred times.
Most people don’t appreciate how hard it is to take a story with abnormal timelines a make a digestible movie. Nolan (and his editors) are masters at this and probably his most redeeming skill as a filmmaker. Solid acting/dialogue, great scores and cinematography of his films are just a bonus.
I’m not the biggest fan of McConaughey’s acting, but he really delivers in this film. When he breaks down watching his kids’ videos, it always gets me.
I watched it in a cinema in Jakarta, Indonesia. Came out and never been more in awe of space. Continued backpacking reading as much as I could and understanding none of it 😂 unbelievable movie.
totally agree. I am bowled over by that last scene when Coop and Murph meet - it's the perfect emotional encapsulation of how science fiction can absolutely invert how we view the world
My biggest problem with it is that my suspension of disbelief is snapped-out-of when Matt Damon pops up all the sudden. That reveal was just random and misplaced and he’s just Matt Damon in the movie, not really a character I’m very convinced by.
The interlude with Mann was necessary for completion of the plot though. I thought that the character could have been developed more too - suspect that there wasn't enough time. (?)
I adored this movie from the moment I saw it in 2014. I remember being very confused by the criticism for it at the time. Now it seems to be near universally loved, and the fact that it released to a lot of raised eyebrows seems to be mostly forgotten.
Thank you for posting this article. I had nissed the movie and came to it because the incredible Anna Lapwood fell in love with the Hans Zimmer score, & plays it in tiktok clips of her midnight sessions practice at the Royal Albert Hall. Love it.
I remember when it came out, I thought "I should watch that." Never did.
Fast forward to June 2020, I was in bed, with COVID, and came across a clip of this kid playing a beautiful song on a piano in a public place. I dig to find out what the song is, Cornfield Chase from Interstellar.
"Now I HAVE to watch this thing" I thought. I was +captivated+, it's the best movie I've ever seen and I couldn't wait to get better to show it to my wife. She loved it so much, she asked to watch it again the next night. We showed it to my daughter a week or two later. It's so very good.
I remember how Loving Spouse and I had encountered this, some time after the initial release - it had gone COMPLETELY beneath our radar, which is saying something for two SFnal fans!!
I wasn't nearly in as much of an Internet existence as I am now, so no follow-up on the soundtrack
This is one of the greatest films of all. It just guts me every time!! My husband and I have had kids since we first saw it and he can barely watch it now. It’s incredible.
I watched it, for the first time, two weeks ago. I am a big space fan and was honestly shocked that it had taken me that long. It is a phenomenal film and yes, I cried too!
I like it very much - big ideas, great set pieces, character, the music I find to be some of Zimmer's best. I still prefer Inception, which to me is so structurally perfect and well-designed, but I also don't have children.
You can see this thread in Inception too, though. The appeal of its central mystery is ultimately an illusion in the face of human, familial connection.
“all the Oscar pundits sitting in the audience at the first screenings of Interstellar collectively turning into The Simpsons’s Professor Frink Jr. as he reads, with bafflement and anger, the results of his gas chromatograph: “The secret ingredient is … LOVE?!?”” Not a pundit but my exact reaction
When they arrive on Miller (the water planet) you’ll notice a clock ticking as part of the score. Each tick is timed at exactly 1.25 seconds. This represents a day passing in earth due to time dilation. I think is one the greatest Easter eggs ever.
I got so excited reading your post I checked all theatres in my area. It's only showing in one about a three hour drive away . Bummed now. But I know what I will be watching tonight
There are 2 types of people, those who think Interstellar is a great movie and those who don’t.
If you are part of those who don’t, an intervention is urged.
Given the current conversations between philosophy and physics (Federico Faggin, Bernardo Kastrup, et al) Nolan’s epic was just slightly before it’s time.
My science loving kids loved this film when it came out and watched it on repeat. I had never seen it all the way through in one sitting until recently where I watched it in the iMax and bawled my eyes out. A masterpiece.
I finally forced myself to watch it (was free on YT). I have the attention span of a goldfish. Said I'd only watch an hour a night. I am a liar. Three hours later I stumbled off to bed.
If you're in DC this weekend/next you can watch Interstellar at the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in IMAX with scientists in town for #AGU24
I just watched it for the first time a few weeks ago. I had had many things spoiled for me, but there was still so much that hadn’t been. It was such a good film.
It still makes me irrationally angry whenever I'm reminded that Matt Damon is actually a really good actor.
There's a part of me that still wants him typecast as the guy from dogma and the Bourne movies, even though the informant and interstellar completely flipped that on its head for me.
"don't let me leave murph" is somewhat memed on but it really cries out to the core of the film: a story about a father's love for his daughter. everything else is just set dressing
1000% the swelling score just is a punch in the gut. The movie came out a year before my first kid and I watch it to remind myself of how much I value our time together
When she runs out to see him and is too late to say bye. The first time I was like “aw sad” but knowing how the movie ends, now that scene destroys me.
Also, when they’re in her room and are setting watches and tells her about relativity how he might be the same age when he comes back. And the horror and cruelty of the thought hits both of them
*Kip Thorne* (physicist 💜🕊) @kipthorne.bsky.social - you ? 🙂 helped with the scientific aspects of the movie. There is only so much shoe-horning which is possible in a film.
Thorne is great. I read his book Gravitation in grad school. The accretion disks and Einstein rings were all very pretty, I'll give that to Interstellar.
Apparently the mechanics of the black hole were severely finessed, to fit the needs of the film. It ought to have been far (! 🫠) larger.. and the travel into the black hole : simply not possible as depicted in the film, due to the assoc. phenomena.
However own
It doesn't actually, it just has non-linear timelines. There's a couple of quibbling ones ( I think the timing of the signal from the water planet is off ) but there's no large plot holes.
Agreed. It’s one of the few great cosmic “big idea” science fiction films: 2001, Contact and...not sure what else. And Contact has the same hard-science-and-family connection at its core. Personally I’d put Memento and the Dark Knight trio ahead of interstellar on the Nolan list.
Irwin also played one of my favorite arch-nemesii on CSI, "The Dick & Jane Killer" who terrorized Laurence Fishburne's Langston character until Irwin got Fishburned crispy.
Interstellar or Tenet. Edge goes to Interstellar because the first time we saw it together, my then 9 yr old turned to me and said “Dad, I want to be an astrophysicist.”
It’s been amazing to watch her become fluent in mathematics and hard science. And it’s been my privilege to permanently become the dumb guy in the room when she’s home from school.
Something I love about this movie is how it continually subverts “Hollywood” expectation. You’ve seen the iconic, enigmatic monolith… now it’s a wisecracking pocket knife. You know this kindly caretaker figure… he’s screwed you. You *literally* try to save Private Ryan and it goes off the rails.
You have no film without Zimmer. The story goes that Nolan had a one page story where the dad says "ill come back" and the kids says "when" He hired Zimmer for one day to just compose what it made him feel. That became the theme we all know. Nolan wrote the script off that. Their inextricable.
When they pull all the stops in that organ I want to feel it in the vestigial spaces between my organs as much as I want to hear it with those tiny little flaps in my ears.
I always loved it. I was surprised at the backlash toward the things Anne Hathaway’s character says, like, what you think scientists can’t also be irrational and desperate in extreme circumstances? Have you met any?
I know a lot of hard scientists who would love to believe this about themselves but as someone in one of those “soft” fields they frequently disdain (psychology) lmao no humans don’t work like that.
The problem with reading stuff, especially well written essays, is that the writings can move you and make you think differently.
I thought it was an okay movie, now I want to see it again and maybe appreciate it better.
Dang it…
I can’t wait to see it in IMAX this weekend. The theatrical revivals of masterpiece films in their chosen format:“Coraline” for 3D, “Interstellar” in IMAX is a great recent development.
During one watching, I remember having an absolute battle with my remote control volume - turning it way up when the dialogue got mumbly, then turning it way down when the music started blasting.
I'm told that the hard-to-hear dialogue was an artistic choice, but I wasn't having it that day.
I really dig the black hole. What I don't understand is what all these characters and their weepy feelings are doing in my story about a badass black hole.
I watched again just tonight (at home). It is still great and does not look ten years old. I went to a late night IMAX screening in NYC while on an archival research trip and was absolutely stunned. Even on the telly, I still am. ❤️🎥
As a fellow person who became a new dad as this movie was released.... This is pretty much the first time I've disagreed with you about a movie, and I'm pretty sure I've listened to every unclear and present danger ep
I think Interstellar is a very good film. But the ending kinda floundered, imo.
My personal opinion is that Oppenheimer is Nolan's masterpiece. Followed closely by Inception...maybe. It's a tough choice. Lmao
Yeah. With Nolan it's difficult to choose a "best" of the bunch. The only two he's made that can be argued as "bad" are Dark Knight Rises and Tenet.
In my eyes, Tenet is the clear worst. Where Knight Rises has some redeeming qualities.
I would only recommend it for the sheer confusion factor. It's quite possibly the clunkiest time travel I've ever seen in a scifi film, with characters that behave like cardboard cut outs. It's so confusing that it came from Nolan of all directors. Lol
You should see it. It's not a time-travel movie. As Nolan said, it's a time inversion movie. The action sequences are amazing with concepts never done in a film before. It gets better with subsequent viewings as well.
Comments
A perfect reflection on sciency views of time and the the painful joy of being human, in a brilliantly executed bit of prose.
I get choked up saying goodbye for a week-long work trip.
I'm not having kids just so I can appreciate an additional layer of movie nuance.
I'll stick to imagination and empathy.
Thankyouverymuchandgoodday!
But since then, I've had 3 kids and become a puddle due to the story's beauty and simplicity.
There's just something so gut-wrenching about legacy, sacrifice that the movie just nails in an intimate AND grand scale.
Now they're in their 20s, and it still demolished me.
Maybe in another decade or two some new team will take up the mantle and try it again and maybe it will even work that time.
Our new billionaires just want to make remakes but without diverse casts.
As an aside, I felt that way about "Raising Arizona." I only halfway understood that one before I had kids (but already thought it was hilarious).
Before I got married? Never took it seriously. After I met my wife? It's my favorite Bond movie.
I agree with your first point too - Incredible work of art. I don't know why we aren't discussing it more.
I've seen that effect in other things. Season 4 of The Wire just wrecked me in a way it didn't when I wasn't yet a dad.
I started thinking something was wrong with me LOL
Like, Cooper's mom is basically the President of humanity, she said to go do it, why didn't they just send this poor guy a memo, lol
Every tick on the water planet ate at my soul.
I loooove sci-fi, but am very, very picky about books and movies (and generally, most movies are really stupid, to me...).
Probably one of the top 5 greatest movies I’ve ever watched in my lifetime.
God, was that GOOD!
Also, still available to convention members until the end of the year, in case anyone in shouting distance fancies a rewatch!
Fast forward to June 2020, I was in bed, with COVID, and came across a clip of this kid playing a beautiful song on a piano in a public place. I dig to find out what the song is, Cornfield Chase from Interstellar.
I remember how Loving Spouse and I had encountered this, some time after the initial release - it had gone COMPLETELY beneath our radar, which is saying something for two SFnal fans!!
I wasn't nearly in as much of an Internet existence as I am now, so no follow-up on the soundtrack
..."Docking."
Then the music hits. Such a perfect scene.
Imagine striving SO HARD for ANY connection to your child, knowing that the best you can do is leave clues and pray that they understand them in time.
It's a parable for all parenting.
Fantastic write up though
...hang on, isn't it the 10th anniversary or am I about to realize I'm WAY OLDER than I think
"That little maneuver* just cost us 10 years"
*wherein "that little maneuver" is defined as "the mercilessly linear march of time"
My favorite movie!!
Twenty minutes in: Son: “Wait is this a time loop where his future self comes back to talk to his present self?”
Me: Heart explodes.
If you are part of those who don’t, an intervention is urged.
This was Tolstoy’s genius as well.
a dystopian world with the best sci-fi elements, and the importance of human connection, and great musical compositions!
There's a part of me that still wants him typecast as the guy from dogma and the Bourne movies, even though the informant and interstellar completely flipped that on its head for me.
I sob out loud every time.
I call my daughter Murph sometimes. She gets it.
God bless. 💙🇪🇺🇺🇦💜🕊
Apparently the mechanics of the black hole were severely finessed, to fit the needs of the film. It ought to have been far (! 🫠) larger.. and the travel into the black hole : simply not possible as depicted in the film, due to the assoc. phenomena.
However own
Unexplained does not equal plot hole.
"That's 100%"
"Let's bring it on down to 75 please"
Reminds me of the final section of Greg Egan’s excellent book ‘diaspora’
Hate Inception with every fiber of my being
She’s currently a sophomore studying astrophysics
It’s been amazing to watch her become fluent in mathematics and hard science. And it’s been my privilege to permanently become the dumb guy in the room when she’s home from school.
I wish to experience it all again if only to linger a little longer.
"No. It's necessary."
*speakers EXPLODE*
Just saw it in IMAX last night. And I found so many things about her performance I missed watching it on my TV all these years.
I think God doesn't believe me anymore RE what I'll do if THE INTERNAL STANDARD RECOVERY WILL JUST STABILIZE. COME ON.
I thought it was an okay movie, now I want to see it again and maybe appreciate it better.
Dang it…
Love the brave attempt also to visualise in a story such massive concepts of space and time.
Which would win in a fight?
(I love them both and I'm very glad we don't have to choose.)
I'm told that the hard-to-hear dialogue was an artistic choice, but I wasn't having it that day.
They are Amazing.
(so is Interstellar) Matthew McConaughey as a space rocket jockey was unexpectedly great.
My personal opinion is that Oppenheimer is Nolan's masterpiece. Followed closely by Inception...maybe. It's a tough choice. Lmao
In my eyes, Tenet is the clear worst. Where Knight Rises has some redeeming qualities.