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Legendary: Harry Potter

A film that I will do a critical review on is a 2011 fantasy film called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”. The director and screenwriter are David Yates and Steve Kloves respectively. This film is the second part continued from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.” For your information, this film is the finale of a film series, “Harry Potter,” consisting of eight seasons and adapted from J. K. Rowling’s seven books. Also, this film is from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J. K. Rowling divided into two parts, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2.”

First of all, let us see a little bit of general information about this entertainment piece in brief. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” and all of its previous seasons’ settings mainly at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry located in the Highland of Scottish. Hogwarts has four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, to divide their students under each house’s professors. Here are the names and summaries of the eight seasons of the Harry Potter film series.

(Spoiler alert!)

(1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) is the prologue that is the introduction to the Harry Potter film series. His mom protected him by sacrificing her life on that day he was tended to be killed. Harry is chosen to be in Gryffindor and meets his two best friends named Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. The Philosopher's Stone is wanted to rescue the Dark Lord, and also Harry is again firstly saved from the maternal love that protects him.

(2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the place where Ron’s sister, Ginny Weasley is used to bait to kill Harry Hotter by the mysterious and dangerous creature, Basilisk living in it. Harry Potter can save Ginny and kill Basilisk safely with the help of the school headmaster, Albus Dumbledore’s phoenix named Fawkes whose tears can heal him from Basilisk's poisonous bite.

(3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Sirius Black, escapes from the wizard prison and comes to see Harry tell him about his father, James Potter. Sirius Black’s truth is also revealed that he is Harry’s godfather one of the Marauders, mischievous friends of James.

(4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) is another season recommended to watch. There is the Triwizard Tournament taking place at Hogwarts. It is a competition consisting of three champions from three wizardry schools, Hogwarts united wizardry school, Drumstrang the male wizardry school, and Beauxbatons the female wizardry school.

(5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) is when Harry Potter tries telling others about the comeback of the Dark Lord, but no one cares so he establishes Dumbledore’s Army following a group of wizards who are against the Dark Lord. The prophecy tells us that Harry and Voldemort cannot live if the other survives.

(6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) is the season that some of Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes, magical objects that Voldemort parts his spirit into them, are revealed and destroyed and they must be all destroyed to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort.

(7.1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) first mentions the three Deathly Hallows, the Invisibility Cloak that its wearer will not be seen, the Resurrection Stone that can resurrect dead people in form of ghosts, and the Elder Wand that is the strongest and undefeatable wand in the wizardry world. It is told through The Tales of Beedle the Bard (written by J.K. in reality) that the owner of these three powerful magical objects will be immune to death.

(7.2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) is mainly about finding the remaining Voldemort’s Horcruxes and destroying it to win against him and save Hogwarts after Albus Dumbledore’s death and his ingenious plan in helping Harry defeat the Dark Lord.

From my point of view, I think that the two approaches that help display the critical aspects of this entertainment piece are the genre approach and the auteur approach since any national approach’s notions cannot be seen at all.

For the genre approach, it is an epic absolutely legendary fantasy feature film among other fantasy films that I have seen. The fantasy genre belongs to fantastic themes like magic, supernatural elements, folklore, and myths mingled together. This genre is another speculative fiction. This film genre has various subgenres, too. For example, fantasy mysteries like eight films from the Harry Potter film series, fantasy superheroes like Justice League (2017), fantasy musicals like My Little Pony (1981), and romantic fantasy like Twilight (2008). In general, each film only focuses on one particular fantasy film element. For instance, Twilight (2008) is only about vampires and werewolves, and My Little Pony (1981) is about the power of magic or friendship is magic.  But when it comes to the Harry Potter film series, prevailing elements that can be seen widespread in fantasy films are mostly mixed used in the Harry Potter film series such as the main characters are wizards and witches who can cast spells, enchantments, or even curses. Other magical creatures like dragons, elves, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves also can be seen often in this film. There are also magical objects like the three Deathly Hallows made by the devil, the Pensieve sink that allows you to see others’ memory, and the seven Horcruxes that contain pieces of one’s spirit. The universal theme of love is mixed here with supernatural things, too. There is the power of love that can be seen through magic whether it is maternal love, friendship, or even one-sided love. It can be seen that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” mixes most elements of fantasy genre films smoothly, and that makes this film outstanding from other fantasy films in common. Moreover, the Harry Potter film series started with its prologue called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” which was released in 2001 so there were not many epic fantasy films to compare with. It can be concluded that Harry Potter films are the historical distinctions of this genre and a prototype of other fantasy films that picked some elements from this film series and developed them individually but not as epic as this series.

For the auteur approach, the filmmakers of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” can be considered a dream team to be honest. The team consists of the Director named David Yates, the screenwriter named Steve Kloves, the composer named Alexandre Desplat, the film editor named Mark Day, and the producers David Heyman, David Barron, and J.K. Rowling herself. There are many others in the positions mentioned but I will mainly talk about those who have participated in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”, and also Part 1 since they have connected. David Yates directed Harry Potter seasons 5-7.2. Steve Kloves did the screenplay for all seasons except for the fifth. Alexandre Desplat composed all seasons. Mark Day edited seasons 5 to 7.2. David Heyman is a producer of all seasons, and David Barron started the fifth season while J.K. only does seasons 7.1 and 7.2. It can be seen that all of them participated in making at least two seasons that are “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2.” So, they worked together very well as a teamwork to make this film an epic epilogue of the Harry Potter film series. They control how witchcraft and wizardry fantasy films look when it comes out to the public audience. Historical conditions of these auteurs are quite difficult to discuss because there was any fantasy film that mixed up almost every supernatural and magical thing altogether like Harry Potter was made of.  The auteurist unity implies their studio system that all the filmmakers have independence and make this film series a noticeable influence on other fantasy films in the industry afterward.  However, the Harry Potter series has its spin-off called “Fantastic Beasts” (also written by J.K.) that consists of three seasons and ongoing; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). Some of the members participated in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2,” concluding David Yates, J.K Rowling, David Heyman, and Steve Kloves takes part in the Fantastic Beasts film series, too. Their role may be switched in filmmaking. Even though the Fantastic Beasts film series may not be as popular and grand as how Harry Potter was but as you can see some similar elements are shared between these two series since the filmmakers are almost the same as Harry Potter and it is a spin-off that is somewhat connected in story. In summary, these filmmakers are somehow considered a dream team of epic fantasy films.

The auteur approach used in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” makes images for the casts of this film, and all the films in the film series. The film makes team successfully done making the trio of Gryffindor, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger alive until now by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson respectively. Also, Lord Voldemort becomes a model for an evil character with a distorted face even though Ralph Fiennes is not recognized because it is not his real face. Nevertheless, they are unforgettable after watching the film. When Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were, people can recognize them immediately. The team and J.K. had done it incredibly and memorably.

On the other hand, the genre approaches, the production team, and all of the filmmakers had created an extremely high bar that any other fantasy film at present can beat this film series at all. How can a fantasy movie be grand and epic like this again I am still wondering and patiently waiting for it soon.

All in all, when it comes to a fantasy film made by a great film team, the Harry Potter film series is a must. Even if you are a Potterhead, a person who fell in love with the Harry Potter film series, or a muggle, a person knowing nothing about the wizardry world, I recommend you watch “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”. I recommend the series’ epilogue instead of its prologue because it is the best franchise ending of a film series in my opinion. If you start one season, any season, you will want to know a lot more about it and watch the rest in no time I guarantee.

References

YADIRAE. (2023, February 26). reelrundown. Retrieved from Harry Potter Movie Summaries: Brief Overviews of Films 1–8: https://reelrundown.com/movies/Harry-Potter-Movie-Refresher

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. (2023, March 31). In Wikipedia.

Harry Potter (film series). (2023 April 2). In Wikipedia.

J. K. Rowling. (2023 March 23). In Wikipedia.

David Yates. (2023 March 16). In Wikipedia.

Steve Kloves. (2022 December 26). In Wikipedia.

Alexandre Desplat. (2023 April 1). In Wikipedia.

Mark Day (film editor). (2021 September 22). In Wikipedia.

Fantastic Beasts. (2023 March 27). In Wikipedia.

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Songs of the La La Land

La La Land (2016) is an American romantic musical comedy-drama film by Damien Chazelle. It was one of the most successful films at that time when it was first released worldwide, but I had not got a chance to watch it properly yet. After watching this musical film for the very first time, sentimental differences popped up from it. I, who only loves to watch musical films that are from Disney studio’s animations like Frozen or Tangled, can clearly witness the differences between real-life actions and the animations that stand out. The animated musical films are mainly for kids or adults who love watching cartoons, so they are really easy to get into. But when it comes to a live-action musical film like La La Land, the realistic aspects can be seen in the film. However, I watched some real-life action musical films even though they are not really my type at all like Pitch Perfect, The Greatest Showman, and a bit of Singin' in the Rain so that I know some of the fundamental elements of how a musical film should be. Musical films are films that are significant in film making such as dancing, singing, music, and universal themes like love and comedy. Moreover, this movie was somehow created more splendidly than other musical films in general.

The feature that can be considered this film’s signature is the stillness of the surroundings. Compared to other general musical films, the dancing and singing scenes go together with the rest of the world and play an important role in running the plot and story of the films. For example, the performances from Pitch Perfect, The Greatest Showman, and most of Disney’s musical animations are the main event that runs the films since they are the main parts of the films. Whereas in La La Land the rest of the world seems to be stopped magically when the performers perform their scene and only the performers are moving. If those films use the technique used in La La Land it will be somehow unreasonable.

My favorite scene: a really charming scene.

       ��      This is one of the very famous and memorable scenes from La La Land. It is when Mia and Sebastian dance together while the song, “A Lovely Night” is played. Some elements make this film outstanding from other musical films. The romantic composition and choreographic movements of tap dancing. This dancing scene may be similar to a scene from Singin' in the Rain in a more civilized place and at a time and also the theme of the film itself. La La Land can express that scene from that a past film that was outstanding in musical films in particular.

And also, the last montage clearly explains the theme of love in this film. It shows different endings of their relationship in several versions since they both have the same dream.

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Impression towards Apichatpong's films

           I do not know actually this famous and successful Thai director at all. But after watching these three films a bit, I can point out his charming style of directing immediately. Firstly, let us look at each film very briefly a little before my analysis and impression.

Blissfully Yours is a 2002 Thai romance film that conveyed some hidden aspects of contemporary society like the different perspectives between homosexuals and heterosexuals.

2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a 2010 Thai drama film inspired by the book, A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Buddhist abbot Phra Sripariyattiweti, released in 1983.

3. Memoria is a 2021 fantasy drama mystery film. This film won the Prix du Jury at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

All three movies by Apichatpong above really give me an experience of Apichatpong-ness from his films. Since all of the three movies are somehow similar to each other in terms of the technique used in the filmmaking.

The first thing is his cinematography style about the stillness of the camera frame recorded in long shots. A lot of long shots with still camera frames can be seen many times. Next is the scenery of the forest landscape he would always frame the characters amid the environment and let the forest or the scenery surrounding narrate the film itself, not the main characters are not the main narrators. These scenes are always used with the diegetic sounds of surrounding environments, too. Non-diegetic sounds are rarely seen in his films, it would be only the environmental sounds and the few sounds of the characters speaking only, or even sometimes there is no single dialogue that can be heard from those characters. For the editing, no advanced graphical editing is used, only simple ones. The theme of magical realism is also often used as we can easily from the second movie that I mention, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, where the characters in the film treat the ghost monkey or a passed away spirit normally like it is very normal even though they are supernatural elements. The last one is the confusing storyline and also storytelling. In Apichatpong’s films, there is no Aristotelian plot, no climax, no conflict, no denouement, and no resolution. He gives his audience the freedom to interpret his films freely by not following the norm of mainstream plot making. If the general audience watches this film using Aristotelian notions, they will not be able to understand Apichatpong’s films at all.

All in all, I think that his signature is his uniqueness in narrating and filming styles that I provided in the previous paragraph, and they make his films really outstanding and charming.

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A Gift (2016); a simple but special gift

A Gift is a Thai film, which uses the combination of many genres together and portrays them somewhat differently. There are musical, romantic, drama, and comedy elements combined in this film. One of the uniqueness that makes this film outstanding is its narration style that the filmmakers decided to narrate the film’s core story through six protagonists, three pairs, and three stories with three majesty songs written by King Rama IX of Thailand.

For the elements of the romantic, drama, and comedy film genres, there is not much difference from the past Thai films in those three (short) stories. But something fascinating that makes this film different is the music, the components of this musical genre film, ‘A Gift’, are distinguishingly different from other musical films in general. When it comes to the musical genre, as a distinct genre, musical films usually mean films that have a lot of singing, and dancing scenes that are significant in those films’ narration and those performances of singing or dancing generally would be done by the main protagonist(s). If this film just narrates the story itself as a normal feature film that longs about two hours, it would be nothing very special. As we can see that ‘A Gift’ is divided into three shorter parts, and each part contains a different storyline and plot, also the genres. In each part, there will be one theme song that plays an important role in each chapter and the theme song somehow relates to the plot of that part and reflects its genres as well. So, the audience can experience watching three short stories by buying only one ticket for a film (only if you go to the cinema or movie theater). Furthermore, those three theme songs are written by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand which make this film very outstanding compared to other musical films that use songs made by ordinary people.

If we are going to start talking about ‘A Gift’s narrative techniques and elements, the most prominent thing that comes up first after watching the movie trailer is the storytelling told in its synopsis. The synopsis said that ‘A Gift’ is a love romance film from GDH portraying the love stories of three pairs of characters that give a new year gift to one another through the self-written songs of King Rama IX like Love at Sundown, Still on My Mind, and New Year Greeting. The three stories link each other in that all the characters are in the same society around the same time during the year-end. As we know, GDH produces lots of happy films throughout the years and provides happiness for the audience for a long time. ‘A Gift’ is inspired by King Rama IX's works. The film itself is a very good movie and is easily accessible not only for family members but also for all people of society of all ages since it provides a bunch of happiness and lifts your heart. So, it is a good option for everyone who seeks happiness.

Part 1: Love at Sundown

           The first part takes place at a farewell party and an overseas scholarship event. Beam and Pang, two strangers, meet one another hereby being stand-ins of the minister and his wife for practicing queues of the main event and the camera. From the very first meeting on the way heading to the main event, Beam starts flirting with Pang by asking for her Line ID and much more with all his flirtatiousness. On the other hand, Pang is always putting her guard up against this flirtation since she is being fooled by her present boyfriend. The theme song of this chapter is ‘Love at Sundown’ by King Rama IX. The song is about a farewell from one’s lover to a faraway place. The remaining is only the feelings of regard. After the event is done, the two protagonists start developing their relationship when Beam gets a scholarship to study overseas. Therefore, their relationship begins at the same time with a farewell at Sundown.

Part 2: Still on My Mind

           The main character in the second part is Fa, a past organizer who was in the scholarship event in the previous part. The mood of this part is quite tense and bitter because it displays some common contemporary issues. She now quit her job since her father has Alzheimer’s disease and her mother is dead. Her two brothers cannot be there to take care of her father, so she is there. Even though taking care of an elderly person is exhausting, she does it with her full heart. One day, she plays a song, ‘Still on My Mind’, which is the theme song of this part by King Rama IX, too. The song is about love that could be forgotten. No matter how long time has passed, love will remain. Her father, who seems to slowly forget everything, starts to recall memories after listening to Fa’s piano on ‘Still on My Mind’ so Fa tries so hard on practicing this song with help from Ae, a piano tuner who was once close to Fa’s mother, to give it as a wedding anniversary gift for her father., and that is the beginning of their relationship.

Part 3: New Year Greeting

           In the last part of the film, there are two main characters, Lhong and Kim. Lhong, who was a member of a rock band for 10 years, became a financial analysis staff at this office. A human resource staff, Kim, knows that Lhong was a professional musician. She pesters him to be the leader of the employees' newbie band despite Lhong escaping from the pain of a musician's life himself. But after trying to join that band with the various employees, he discovers for the first time he enjoyed playing music, which is his real happiness. On the upcoming new year, the employees perform this part theme song, ‘New Year Greeting’, as a New Year’s gift at the head office. The song is about New Year's greetings, wishing listeners a happy and prosperous life. In my opinion, this part contains a lot more elements of music and comedy than the rest two.

All the elements composed together somehow make this film divine. The particular scene above is the ending of part two when Fa plays ‘Still on My Mind’, through her dead mother’s piano for her father who gets Alzheimer’s disease. When the song ends, her father is awakened, realized, and remembered everything that his wife is no longer here but in his mind. It is a very happy ending after tense traumatic events. In terms of a national approach, the film shows King’s power indirectly through his majestic songs. The film acts as an awakening for Thai people provoking their hearts and minds about the recently passed away King that he has done a lot for citizens that even his majesty's songs have the power of love to his people, too. It makes people praise and admire him more.

Moreover, ‘A Gift’ was released on December 1, 2016, the nearly New Year period, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death on Oct 13, 2016. So, I can say that the main theme song of the overall film is ‘New Year Greeting’. His Majesty composed ‘New Year Greeting’ as a gift to the people of Thailand on New Year 1952 through the melodies that convey His love, concern, and goodwill. No matter how many years pass, the Thai people will have blessings from His Majesty in their hearts forever.

Sources

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Ilo Ilo and familial relationship

               Ilo Ilo (2013) by Anthony Chen is a Filipino-Singaporean-Taiwanese drama film that deals with particular individual perspectives of Singaporean society. The film’s context is about foreign domestic workers in Singapore and its tension with the Philippines. Still, one of the most outstanding national issues that pop up from the film is family relationship and their roles, and also familial tensions. In Singapore, families are almost one hundred percent of nuclear families are small, consisting of only the father, the mother, and the child. In the film, a Singaporean family consists of three members, the father named Teck, the pregnant mother named Hwee Leng, and the ten-year-old son named Jiale, also counted as a nuclear family. When it comes to family roles context, the father is always the head of the family who mainly gets the money for the rest of the family members, the mother is always the one who mostly takes care of their children, and the child’s duty is only to study. But in this film, Ilo Ilo, both the father and the mother are always on their work and busy so they cannot spend their time with their son well. It directly affects the formation of Jiale’s childhood. As a result, Jiale becomes a troubled delinquent because of the distant relationships between family members. They also live in a small flat room that provides limited space with financial obstacles after the father loses his job. This is considered a family problem that is in common at the present time, so the parents decide to hire a foreign domestic worker from the Philippines named Teresa or Terry as a nanny which becomes one of the main conflicts of the film later. As a stubborn kid, Jiale establishes an unpleasant relationship with Terry at first, too, but as time goes by, their relationship is getting better.

The issue is indicated in this scene where Terry and Jiale’s relationship is getting closer.

It may be quite normal in most families that hire any nanny and their children get closed to the nanny. But the film’s reflection sheds light on another aspect. Ilo Ilo reflects a different kind of relationship when the biological tie is weakened by a social tie. Since Jiale starts to open up his heart to Terry more, they become closer and the atmosphere between them is much better. The conflict arises gradually because the pregnant mother of Jiale notices and witnesses it. The mother may somehow envy Terry that she is getting closer and closer while she, the mother herself, develops a more distant relationship with her own son instead. Moreover, the tension between Singapore and the Philippines can be seen here, too. Human equality between these two countries makes it easy to push Terry away. So, when it comes to the point that she cannot bear seeing Terry become more acquainted with her son any longer and the family’s financial crisis is getting worse, the parents decide to lay Terry off from being Jiale’s nanny even though Jiale is tearfully sad when Terry is sent home.

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Tokyo Story (1953) by Yasujirō Ozu

My impression and feelings toward the film:

At first, I was about to think that this film might not be that impressive as I mostly witnessed only colored films. On the other hand, the movie turned out very impressive for me after I watched it till the end. The first part may seem a little boring since the conflict of the film is not shown explicitly. But after the aging couple, Shukichi and Tomi, go traveling to Tokyo to visit their children, the conflict takes place and is clearly shown in this metropolis. Since the film’s genre is Family drama and the plot is dealing with contemporary issues between parents and their children or also their grandchildren, these elements impressed me a lot. The generation gap or age gap between the older and younger is common not only when the film is published but also nowadays. The parents always raise their child/ren with love and care but as they grow up the child/ren might not be the same caring for them when the parents are elderly. Aging parents is not treated well by some of their children. However, they think that at least all of them are not undergoing troubles and treat them as “above average” even if some of them are not. In my view, how the film is black and white somehow helps advance the conflict of how some of their children have changed to be not caring and not respectful as they should be. To illustrate, the scene of Tomi’s death, the matriarch of the family, might not come out this sad if the film was colorized.

For the filming techniques, cameras are set motionlessly to show the interior designs of Japanese living places in most scenes. The middle and little low angle of cameras make us like we are with them as family members. Though most scenes are not wide and can make us somewhat cramped, there is a scene that is open to make us relieve from the tension of the storyline and also the conversation between Tomi and her grandson up there.

My favorite scene:

The most emotional and sentimental scene I would say. Tomi and Noriko, her daughter-in-law of her deceased second son named Shoji, so they are completely in different lineages. Noriko is the most caring of all her children except for Kyoko, the youngest daughter who is living with Shukichi and Tomi and takes good care of them from the start in western Japan, Onomichi. Noriko treats the retired couple with care and respect. After the couple decided to go back to Onomichi, Noriko gives Tomi some money. She rejects accepting it at first. Tomi also talks about encouraging Noriko to get remarried after her son's death since Noriko is a very kind, caring, and positive woman in her eyes which Noriko thinks that she is not that good. Noriko also cries her heart out in this scene, and I really get into it, tears even welled up in my eyes. It makes me feel very sorry that those who are in the same blood are not taking care of this couple very well as she, who is just a daughter-in-law.

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

My impression:

         After watching this film for the first time, I did not get anything from watching it. The movie’s storytelling is confusing for me because of its incohesive storyline. From the first scene where there is nothing but darkness with surround sound for about 5 minutes, I was already confused and thought “Is it already started? or Why there are no visuals but only audio?” Sincerely, I want to say that I do not like it much since the film is my very first science fiction film that I watched concentratedly. I am not into science fiction movies in general because I don’t like futuristic things like space, robots, artificial creatures, and more from the beginning. However, I could recognize something that the film might want to say which is the evolution of humanity. In my interpretation, it starts from the darkness which means nothing or emptiness of the universe and there are apes, ancestors of humans I would say, who evolved from being dumb to being cleverer because of the appearance of the suspicious black monolith. Next, the protagonist, one of the humans living in a spacecraft, is somehow seized to another dimension, and then there is a baby astronaut? or something seeing our world from space. The message of the film might be about what I mentioned above that humanity started from nothing to be one brilliant creature on Earth. Still, in the end, we are just some kind of substances that are nothing in this space, galaxy, or universe, too.

One particular scene that I favorite:

         Furthermore, the film’s aesthetic is shown incredibly. Even though the film itself was first published in 1968, the film tried to give people at that what it looks like in space in 2001 at that time. We, who are in the 2020s may not be surprised about the film’s visuals and artistic element created by arranging its mise-en-scène(s). In my opinion, people who were in the 1960s, and were thinking about going to space must be fascinated by this film’s visual effects of space for sure.

My favorite scene from “Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey” is the scene where the protagonist is in another dimension in my understanding, and the film displayed a series of space spectrums together with the captivating surround orchestra sound. It is a fascinating scene for me as it is the stage for the filmmakers to show their skill in creating those spellbinding visuals and also audio. 

Lastly, I would love to recommend it to those who love the science fiction genre or want to interpret this film in other aspects because this film is very open to different interpretations, too.

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