2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - The Ferris Wheel - The Technician
The Film: In a classic Kubrick fashion, this film unapologetically asks many more questions than it answers, but it is still revered as one of the greatest films of the last 100 years. Anyone who watches this film, from Joe Bloggs to Leonardo DiCaprio (see below), takes that something special away from a film that encapsulates and never forgets what cinema is truly about - the experience. If the Star Child at the end leaves you pondering your own life or the apes at the beginning teach you anything at all, it is that we all know very little about why fundamentally we do what we do or why we are who we are. Arthur C. Clarke's book goes into mega amounts of detail as a companion to this magnum opus, and even goes so far as explain the entire narrative of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Some people may call this arrogant, pretentious or even lazy on Kubrick's part to avoid answering actual questions when the companion book does, but many see it otherwise: as genius. Speaking at the Venice Film Festival in 2007, Ridley Scott cited that science-fiction was dead in cinema, much like the western genre is considered to be. Remember that this came from the man who made Alien and Blade Runner. He went on to state that 2001 would never be topped in terms of its freshness and relevance and that all that have come after it, including his own great work, will never come close. Leonardo DiCaprio called this film more than a cinematic experience, stating that it goes out of its way to try to get us to understand our connection with the universe we inhabit, explaining that the film is a spiritual experience unlike any other. Finally, whether you like it or not, the man responsible for the greatest Science Fiction franchise of our time and possibly creator of the most important film that changed the studio system in the '70s; George Lucas has gone on record to say that 2001 is far superior to Star Wars. All high praise indeed, yet the best thing about 2001 from a critic perspective is the technical achievement. The effects make up on the apes at the start of the movie was so good that, rumour has it, it lost out to best make up to Planet of the Apes as the Academy thought the apes in 2001 were real.
The Scene: Perhaps the most hypnotic shot of the film (and there is cause to create a whole list based on such) is the Ferris Wheel jogging scene. Created using a giant wheel within a wheel, spinning in different directions at any one time, the effect of Astronaut Frank running towards the camera whilst the ground beneath him seamlessly doesn't move as he goes around in a never ending circle is nothing short of mesmerising. The shot before shows the ground not moving with Frank going upside down, round and round which really displays the trick pulled off by Kubrick. The shot that follows confuses the brain as it attempts to match up with what it has just seen. It is as if Kubrick is playing with your head, fooling it into seeing something that isn't possible; a talent that I can't really level at any other director, at least on a technical level without the always obvious use of CGI. Here, Kubrick is a magician and unless you study and break it down to an immense level, the magic is well and truly real. The shot ends when there is a cut to the infamous Hal, his silent red light staring blankly as the reflection of the turn can be seen in his forever vacant eye. This is classic Kubrick: cold, calculated, precise and utterly ground-breaking.