When Kubrick filmed 2001:A Space Odyssey, he described each segment as a ‘non-submersible unit’. Each one is a discrete sequence. It’s interesting that the ‘stargate’ sequence, that links the final two sequences, is about 10 minutes in duration. The closing sequence is about the same duration. It made me think about the Terrence Malick film, Tree of Life. Malick seems to have inverted Kubrick. The scenes in Tree of Life were short and the ‘bridging scenes’, we’re much longer. I don’t think Malick’s version worked because the viewer was shorted content in favor of being over-saturated in ‘bridging scenes’, which are interesting initially, but can not carry an entire film. Because the smallish story was truncated and chopped into pieces (not non-submersible units), it became more of an exercise in abstraction. How to feed us a linear story but make us feel like we’re being presented something new. Invert 2001’s structure — use long bridging sequences. Ultimately it felt manipulated, in a heavy handed way — more like a product produced in a factory but stamped ‘artisanal’ on the wrapper.
A friend told me ages ago: ‘A wise man/(woman) knows the true value of things…’
Righty-o.