2001: A Space Odyssey

PUBLISHED July 16th, 2014 02:56 am | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am

Director: Stanley Kubrick

1968 / USA / DCP / 139 min / Rating TBC

Journey to the past with 2001: A Space Odyssey, a landmark of modern cinema in the late 60s that signalled a new dawn of science fiction cinema. Feast your eyes on this cinematic marvel and its epic onslaught of precisely plotted hallucinogenic visuals that were breakthroughs in cinematographic innovation.

Centred around a mysterious black monolith which first makes its uncanny appearance in a fateful scene depicting the early stages of human evolution, 2001 moves swiftly into the space age where astronauts investigate the monolith as it reappears on the moon and Jupiter. The film spans millions of years in scopeand navigates through time and space with the fluidity and grace of a symphony. It explores the evolutionary nature of mankind, the tension between artificial intelligence and human agency, and finally espouses upon the cosmic significance of the future in a hauntingly bizarre closing sequence.

In the 50s and 60s, the bulk of sci-fi cinema that was produced comprised of low-budget B-grade genre films. When 2001 arrived, it revolutionised the genre, and ushered in a visionary form of sci-fi cinema. As relevant to our modern times as when it was first released, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is an essential lesson in cinema history and best experienced on the big screen.

Admission is free. The movie will start at 8pm.