The Cinematheque

New Restoration

Kubrick’s stately, soaring cosmic epic, a landmark of 1960s cinema, is now regularly cited as one of the truly great films. Its speculative history of humanity and technology begins with the very origins of our species. In a brilliant example of associative editing, it then bridges millions of years of human development with a single, sensational cut, leaping ahead to our space-faring future. The year is 1999, and the discovery of a mysterious object on the Moon leads, eighteen months later, to a manned mission to Jupiter—and a beyond-the-infinite rendezvous with evolutionary destiny. The film’s most human character is, ironically, a deeply flawed computer named HAL. The visionary production design remains a marvel to behold. Described, wryly, as a ​“shaggy God story,” and promoted, cannily, as ​“the ultimate trip,” Kubrick’s awe-inspiring, psychedelic-infused opus is a cinematic experience like no other.