| neverending |
06-01-2009 09:09 PM |
To all you 2001 haters- you find this film boring because you haven't seen it in the proper environment. Now hear me out.
I saw this film on its initial release in a true Cinerama theatre-
Quote:
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc.
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Omaha, my home town, had one of three "super-Cinerama" theatres ever built. Watching a film 35 feet tall and so wide an arc that you had to turn your head both to the left AND the right in order to see the entire image is nearly indescribable.
2001: A Space Odyessy was the perfect film for this venue. No film has ever been made with a wider scope thematically- the birth of humanity up to the end of humanity. The scope and sweep of this theme is told in beautiful broad strokes primarily visually. The marraige of the theme with environment (the theatre) was a mind-blowing - truly an odyessy for the mind. When you see that space station, 35 feet tall, with the majestic circular movements of the camera and the stately Strauss waltz your jaw just drops open and you go OMG, as your head pans the screen and you see each little scene taking place in each little window of the space station. There is no way somebody watching this on a 48" television could understand the impact this film had. Even seeing it in a conventional theatre carries none of the magic of the intended experience.
Some might say the film is no good if it can't convey its meaning whatever way it's shown. That's akin to saying War & Peace is a crap novel because the Classics Illustrated adaptation lacks power.
2001 is the greatest epic film ever made and the few million people who saw it as it was intended know that. It's really a shame people can't have this experience, because even though I was only 12 years old when I saw it at The Indian Hills Cinerama Theater, it's something I will remember for the rest of my life. |
