Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is widely regarded as
one of the best films ever made. It has been celebrated for its beauty
and mystery, its realistic depiction of space travel and dazzling
display of visual effects, the breathtaking scope of its story, which
reaches across millions of years, and the thought-provoking depth of its
meditation on evolution, technology and humanity's encounters with the
unknown. 2001 has been described as the most expensive avant-garde
movie ever made and as a psychedelic trip, a unique expression of the
spirit of the 1960s and as a timeless masterpiece.
Peter Krämer's insightful study explores 2001's complex origins, the
unique shape it took and the extraordinary impact it made on
contemporary audiences, drawing on new research in the Stanley Kubrick
Archive to challenges many of the widely-held assumptions about the
film. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.