Sam Labrecque

A few weeks ago, Stephen Spielberg went on the Rewatchables podcast to discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey. He said this about the ending: "When the Star Child turns and those eyes are moving in the model's— in the puppet's head, and almost looks at the audience, you know, it's just a moment that let— sort of Stanley is saying, "We need to start looking within ourselves." You know, we can always be looking to the stars, and ambition and exploration is great, but— Aren't we missing us? Shouldn't we start, all of us, looking more inward? And that's what that said to me. Not the first time I saw the film, and not the 25th time I saw the film. But eventually, it started to make— It started to become very clear to me." His whole life, Spielberg has over and over again featured extra-terrestrial story-telling as a way to tell personal stories. He makes E.T. and Close Encounters not because he is interested in aliens but because he is interested in humanity. DISCLOSURE DAY is this motif in its rawest form. It takes a more metaphorical idea from Spielberg's past work and makes it literal. How does the existence of aliens change what it means to be human? This movie has its flaws. It's nowhere near Spielberg's best work. But it's his strongest thesis statement for an idea he has tried to convey his entire life.

Without hyperbole, the Starman montage might be the greatest needle drop montage ever put on film