KUBRICKS CINEMA ODYSSEY

Author wrote bestselling bfi Publishing title David Lynch a joy to the reader of film criticism Choice 2001 A Space Odyssey to be re released in cinemas in The Spring and highly likely to be the focus of much media attention in the new year Stanley Kubrick s 2001 A Space Odyssey 1968 based on Arthur C Clarke s novel is one of the most ambitious films ever made an epic of space exploration that takes in the whole history of humanity as well as speculation about its future A technical triumph that stands up today 2001 is topical also because of its meditation on the relationship between man animal and machine Haunting and enigmatic it s a film that contains myriad images that seem to defy any explanation In this multilayered study acclaimed critic and theorist of film sound Michel Chion offers some keys to understanding 2001 Setting the film first in its historical and cultural contexts the Space Race the Cold War 1960s psychedelia Chion goes on to locate it within Kubrick s career He then conducts a meticulous and subtle analysis of its structure and style arguing that 2001 is an absolute film a unique assemblage of cinema s elements through which pulses a vision of human existence Animals who know they will die beings lost on