Last night, I saw (half of) Interstellar in film (15/70). The other half was, unfortunately, in digital 4k. Why half? Read on. Also, spoilers.

This was the first time I had watched a film in IMAX since ‘A Bug’s Life’ on a school excursion for a primary school excursion. I had also gone to IMAX for a kindergarten excursion, but didn’t go to the cinema throughout all of high school. It was one of two exclusive showings of the film on one of the largest screens in the world. I hoped and knew it would make for a worthy experience.

I had refused to watch Interstellar when it came out in 2013. I was scared of the idea that I knew would be presented in the film, that someone else would grow old without you, the attachment between family members eternally disrupted. I hadn’t watched the film before, instead preferring to remain in my comfort zone of Harry Potter, rather than watch something that I feel would frighten me.

The film started at 7:30, officially, but the actual film only started at around 7:50 due to ads. We turned up late because we were getting food, but were luckily able to sneak our food into the cinema. I honestly don’t think they care about outside food any more, but we were brought up to think they would take away our non-cinema food.

The beginning of the film was good, albeit a little lengthy. It took a while for me to understand why they were taking down a jet, and the sudden cuts to different scenes brought about some confusion too. The soundtrack, though, was assertive from the beginning. ‘Cornfield Chase’, which I had listened to many times previously, was as amazing as I had thought it would be, accompanying a majestic chase through, what I’m told, was corn grown specifically for the film.

The departure of Cooper was moving. The warning from Murph, which was actually future Cooper attempting to tell his past self not to leave, was a nice piece of dramatic irony. As I’m sure many members of the audience would have guessed too, we could already see Murph’s potential and knew her pleas to be based upon reasoning and not just emotion.

In the middle of the film, as Cooper was travelling through the wormhole, the 1570 projector broke, and there was a recurring massive droning sound, which repeated about 40 times. The first few times, people thought it was normal because coincidentally, he was continuing to travel through the wormhole. After around 8 iterations, and after it was sounding during the crew’s speech, people started laughing, realising what had happened. My friend had also noticed a burn towards the right of the screen in the few minutes preceding the sounds. Nevertheless it was a good opportunity to reflect on the film and to understand some of the parts which had confused me.

Speaking of which, the film did confuse me. I had to ask my friend about some things, including what Professor Brand Sr’s deathbed message was. The idea that it was set in a dystopian future was lost to me as well until I checked the year after the film. Transitions between sections of the film was difficult to understand for me sometimes - it was difficult to jump from the idea of time dilation on one planet, but Mann’s planet being unaffected decreased coherence I felt. The 3D world in a 5D world, that time was a physical dimension was an interesting concept as well, and I guess it made sense, but only when explained. Tom also confused me, and I didn’t realise that Tom was drawn by the promise to his father to remain as a farmer, the reason why he shunned Murph’s return.

The recurrent theme of deception was well written, because the blackmail was the survival of the human race. I had always thought of Brand as hiding the truth, but Professor Mann took me be surprise. The ‘betrayal’ of Brand by Cooper confused me a little, because I had always thought of Cooper as the fearless leader you could root for. Looking back now, it could also have been a grown man chasing his childhood dream at the expense of his children having a father-figure in life, especially with his children already lacking a mother figure. Again, it’s another way the family unit is distorted, and we see this with the juvenile behaviour of both his children, but especially his older son. His older’s son home situation was also confusing to me.

The music was amazing. From Cornfield Chase at the beginning, to S.T.A.Y, to the clock sounds towards the end. The recurring motif throughout the film whenever family came up, including the ‘family instinct’ - the determination, at the brink of death, to hold on for your family, was moving. The sounds of betrayal, too

The organs were majestic. Reminscent of space opera, rising up the octave and resolving to a single note. The soundtrack brought life to a bleak time in the film. Contrasting with the eerie punctuations of silence towards the beginning of film, where the desolate vacuum, an endless space separated from humanity by ‘millimetres of aluminium’. The rotation of the space ship, silhouetted against the vulnerable earth, alternating with millions of light years of deep space. The distant, helpless sun, unable to sustain a dying planet.

Finally, the idea of family separation, the return of Murph as a geriatric at the conclusion of the film brought tears to my eyes and struck a cord with many in the theatre as well. You could hear sniffs in the audience as cinema-goers expressed their emotions at a gentle point of the film. Nevertheless, depsite the entire film working towards the reunion between Cooper and Murph, with the messages from them updating Cooper on their lives playing a major role in that theme. The film eventually grows into that once older Brand’s betrayal is revealed, and the audience is rooting for Cooper to see his children again. The ending was strangely anti-climatic, but did put me at ease. Perhaps, it was difficult for me to unite the two conflicting ideas of the survival of humanity, and Cooper’s own survival for the purpose of seeing his children gain.

Walking out of the theatre, we were told that we would be given free tickets due to not being able to watch half the film in IMAX. I guess that brought me back to reality. That we would not need to find a new planet (would we?) and that family would be with you forever (would they?). Both thought provoking questions that arose from a film well received by its audience.