Film Forum

U.S., 1968
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
With Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain), Leonard Rossiter
WINNER Academy Awards® – Best Special Visual Effects, 1969
Approx. 139 min. DCP.

Three million years ago, a mysteriously appearing black monolith gives those apes some new ideas; and then Kubrick cuts from an upthrown bone to a spaceship: it’s 2001 and that darn monolith is back! A multiple breakthrough: in its special effects, in the teaming of a world-class director and a science fiction visionary on normally B-picture material; the eschewing of traditional narrative structure; and the tone of mystical transcendence.

Reviews

“Succeeds magnificently on a cosmic scale.”
– Roger Ebert

“The picture which science-fiction enthusiasts of every age and in every corner of the world have prayed (sometimes forlornly) that the industry might one day give them.”
– Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times

“The film is a journey through outer space, but it is also a journey through cinematic space. It conjures the future by making you sit through its vision of the future, spending time just being in it.”
– Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice