Movie Review: Interstellar

Rating: *****

Best movie of the year and best movie I have seen in years. The incomparable writer, producer, director Christopher Nolan delivers (again) in this mind-bending and exceedingly intelligent film (not movie ... movies are popcorn flicks and this is plain and simply film).

The premise is complex while at the same time simple: a plague is turning crops to dust and the atmosphere is declining with eminent extinction of the human race at stake. Now comes the complex: pilot Copper, who has two adoring children, is "called" to navigate a space ship through a worm hole to investigate several viable planets to relocate the human race and/or colonize the surface (Plan A and Plan B). Leaving his beloved daughter Murphy (named after Murphy's Law) and his son, Cooper faces the epic challenge of getting through the worm hole to the other side and battling time shifts (Einstein's Theory of Relativity) and other very real situations on foreign planets.

What I LOVE about this film is its sheer wisdom and intelligence. Nolan never tries to pander to us. He uses his characters to explain math and science in an understandable way. He keeps the story and the visuals extremely realistic and interesting, and the concepts and stories are reality-based. But it's his thoughtful spiritual ideas about love and interconnection and intuition involved in loving someone so strongly that you just know things that science cannot explain. The power of love becomes the underlining basis in this film, and I was so moved by the strength of the message, it brought tears to my eyes. Not all things we know are explainable. My new book Body in the Trunk touches on the deep spiritual connection and power of love. So I was happy to see other artists exploring those thoughts, too. GO SEE THIS FILM! It's a must. I haven't been so enthusiastic about a film in years. I loved it.