I spoke to my mother about this movie. My confidence was at an all time high as I internalized this movie’s message about space travel, time travel, and love. Love would be the portal that takes me home, that gets me where I want to get to, and if I wanted it bad enough, that love would start with me.
I usually say some pretty deep things to my mother and she usually just listens to me in a way of awe that fills me. Although filled with what, I never really gave that thought, so I couldn’t tell you. She just listens to me, whatever I would say, while I put words and thoughts together from experiences, beliefs, and values that pretty much sit on the tip of my tongue until I find someone willing to listen to me for a while. Sometimes that’s all I look for from my mother if not to ask whether or not she needs help with anything or help provide her with space when I’m inclined to offer.
Then I’m on the road again, and where I’m going is anyone’s guess.
The characters in this movie hopped from planet to planet looking for a world that could sustain human life, as time on Earth was soon to expire. The problem with this expedition was that each planet, including the light years they traversed, had a function of passing time completely different from one to the other. It was either find a planet with sustainable life and grow old trying, or grow out of time with a dying planet and come back to find it so. The team was a novel group of experienced technicians, engineers, and pilots with astute awareness and attention to the world around them, united by hope that they carried to space.
If you ask me, I think the mystery surrounding this movie is quite clear. The cinematography, the storytelling, and pace was extraordinary. The revelation our pilot had brought me to tears, because in a way he was right (no, I won’t tell you what the revelation was).
I remember reading a review that was upset with the near end of the movie, and I had a speculation that they were upset only because with all the math, science, deductive reasoning and theory this movie brought to the table, it seemed asinine to bring “love” into the discussion. I figured that to them “it wasn’t a number” so why take all the intelligence and smarts this movie presented and shove it aside for an emotion. To that I would say, they weren’t paying attention to the daughter’s father who faithfully recited the line, “do not go gentle into that good night”. It was poetic, but the same engineering that sent our team into space was also part of a race of humans in this movie who produced the arts.
Cheers!
At The Dinner Table 