Interstellar

12 years ago my life changed forever. Cinema has always been a refuge of mine since those earliest memories. Stepping through a portal away from reality in hopes of being transported into a world beyond imagination. The shared experience of seeing story’s unfold through moving image alongside a group of strangers. Pure magic. For whatever reason, even as an adolescent child, I was fascinated by the vast infinite unknown above. The idea of our existence being an unmovable question mark against the possibilities of the universe. Existential notions a child shouldn’t even grasp or formulate, yet there I was, wide awake at night, staring into the stars and the great beyond. Up until 2014 my relationship with cinema was always of great admiration for the entertainment it had provided me. For the escapism and investment in characters and worlds only film could provide. Then came opening weekend for Interstellar. 16 years old. I was so excited after the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, some of the most formative movies during a burgeoning enlightenment of cinemas capabilities. How lucky to live in Manchester and secure IMAX 70mm opening night tickets. Those first 3 hours that proceeded are almost impossible to describe. It’s a blur of unbound feeling, immersion and profundity which left a mark so severe it’s practically part of my continued DNA. I left that theatre in such a state of mesmerised awe I don’t even know how I got home, every inch of my brain consumed by what I had just witnessed. I walked through the front door, sat on my bed and immediately booked tickets to see it again, in IMAX 70mm, the next day. I saw Interstellar 6 times that opening week. For me there’s nothing more overwhelming, fascinating, daunting and beautiful than the weight of those questions hanging over our existence. Beings with such advanced intellect, emotion and conscious awareness, yet when we look up into the sky, there will forever be a realisation of insignificance. Some may find that challenging to confront….but for me it’s freeing. There are infinite possibilities within the unknown, so to dive into that void cinematically in the hands of one of our greatest filmmakers, journeying with humanity through the stars I once gazed upon as a child bursting with curiosity…..that is special. It means more than I could ever translate to words. Film that alters the fabric of my mind. Expanding dimensions and sense of place, time and purpose in ways that transcend any kind of physical matter. I genuinely navigate through the world differently and connect on such a deeper level with myself since that first viewing. Interstellar has remained my favourite film since 2014 and to be honest I don’t think anything else would be able to top it. There’s too many factors so intrinsically tied to my entire life’s experience and moment in time I saw the film for that to happen. I never saw it again in the cinema since that opening week, but it felt important, even if just for me personally to see it again exactly as projected 12 years ago—and write down the review it deserves. I hope one day I get to meet Christopher Nolan and thank him for this monumental work. The thought of even being able to do that sends shivers down my spine. “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light”