I am the kind of person who rewatches the same movies on loop. It is a rare occurrence for me to watch something new or out of my comfort zone. Therefore, after being asked a million times by a million people to watch one of the greatest movies of all time, a masterpiece. I relaxed my rule and finally gave it a watch. To my dismay, a movie beloved by all got a bad rating from my end. āInterstellarā, often described as scientifically ambitious and visually stunning, just didnāt work for me, no matter how much I āpaid attentionā to it.Ā
One of the biggest strengths of the film is its grand scale of things. Which is exactly what created a distance between me and the movie. Interstellar rarely lets its emotions feel minor or organic because it is so intent on being immense and profound. Dramatic music, expansive visuals, and lengthy monologues amplify every emotion, leaving little opportunity for ambiguity.
As much as the scientific explanations feel impressive, I caught myself feeling utterly lost at times. At times, they made the movie feel educational rather than engrossing me in the story. There was a stronger emphasis on symbolisations and conversations rather than the quiet moments shared between characters, such as Cooper and the daughter. Their emotional bond was told more than shown.Ā
The film is heavily focused on deriving a meaning from every single scene. It wants every scene to have weight and every moment to feel important. However, nothing is profound when everything is. Instead of seeming earned, the emotional scenes came across as manufactured. The natural flow of emotions that should develop by watching a particular scene got interrupted by the swelling of music, which made the experience of watching the movie emotionally guided.
It is also harder to connect with the characters. They seem less like real people and more like ideas or concepts. They appear to be present just to symbolise abstract themes such as science vs faith. The characters never surprised me because they are so strongly linked to concepts. Instead of feeling human, their decisions looked predetermined. When a character spoke, it usually sounded more like the movie explaining itself than a person responding to uncertainty. I get what the characters stand for, but I don’t necessarily experience their emotions, so the emotional connection turns into an intellectual one.Ā
For anyone who has not watched the movie, I would not discourage them from watching it. It is just that it did not live up to the hype that was created around it. I would not say I hated the film. I simply did not find any sort of connection to it. While trying so hard to be unforgettable, it lost out on the intimacy. Which is one of the reasons why it did not and never will make it to the loop of movies I rewatch. While others might love the film, it will always remain a one-time watch for me.Ā