For those of you still uninitiated with Interstellar, the new shrouded-in-secrecy film by genius and innovator Christopher Nolan, stop reading here. It is the personification of discovery, an eyes-wide-open love song that dares to ask what if and to open doors to places both new and unexpected. As Christopher Nolan himself has said to the press, this film, perhaps more than any other of his, relishes in its untold story. There are the expected Nolan twists and turns, but so much of the meat and bones of the story has been lovingly withheld that spoiling seems rude. Interstellar is in a constant state of evolution and metamorphosis, with distinct phases that differ in look, structure, and theme. Although Nolan recycles core sci-fi tropes, the context and presentation deepens and expands them past familiarity, using them as thematic devices that uplift and still surprise. The more familiar you are with the genre, the more you might see things coming (though there are some nobody will), but Nolan’s stellar triumph is in how he synthesizes his film’s many moving parts into a clear, absorbing gospel of time, life, and love. It’s an unfortunate mark of timing that Boyhood, an amazing film that mourns the uncanny delicacy of time’s passing, came out only a few months prior, since Interstellar chases a similar ambition less effectively but still with resonance. Nolan uses time like a Death Star, and it is terrifying.

Interstellar is a profound evolution for Nolan not just as a filmmaker but as an artist. He plays with new forms of cinematic expression, has never been more confident or as audacious, and asks big questions while he finds increasingly stunning ways to wow. No film in 2014 is as joyously cinematic: Interstellar is worth celebrating.

What I can say -- or rather what I will -- is this: Interstellar is a science fiction film taking place in a not too distant future. It’s science fiction in the classical sense, taking existing speculative science and spinning it into narrative orbit. Earth has become a planet-wide dust bowl with crops failing and the population on the brink of ruin. It’s a fatalistic vision of Earth’s future that, in the hands of a filmmaker known for his over-seriousness, shockingly becomes a fable of optimism and hope. Using the last resources on Earth, an expedition is set to travel through a newly discovered wormhole, with detailed plans to ‘test out’ multiple planets that can possibly sustain life. Grounding Nolan’s voyage between galaxies is a gorgeous father-daughter story that’s a metaphor for all human connection and love -- a huge statement that might seem like folly if it wasn’t brought to life by two amazing performances by Matthew McConaughey and Mackenzie Foy. I expected McConaughey to wow, and he’s better here than his Oscar-winning turn in Dallas Buyers Club, but I was pleasantly surprised at the nuanced and heartfelt performance by Foy-a rarity amongst child actors. The cast is excellent, namely Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway along with many others. They are the human heart in a film that could have been intellectually paralyzing, and they pump blood into Interstellar’s icy veins.