Everyone in filmmaking has seen Space Odyssey. And everyone remembers HAL and Dave. Probably the monolith. And certainly the Jupiter sequence. Except editors. Editors naturally remember THE cut. Maybe the ultimate, most famous one. Ever. Bone to spaceship.
Transcending space and time. Bringing together what's separated by aeons. This is film editing 101 classic type stuff. This cut is to editors what Citizen Kane's frames within a frame are for DPs.
However, looking at this cut, it is everything but seamless. It's a horribly irritating edit actually. Jarring. But it is not bad craftsmanship we're seeing here. It's not a match cut continuing motion, but a cut that expresses the vast passage of time.
But this ain't news. Any of the hundreds of books titled Introduction to Film Theory or something along those lines will tell you that.
What is striking to me about this, is that a cut like that would trigger endless discussions, repeated test screenings and the biggest of insecurities in the edit suite of today. Chances are this cut would be frame-f'ed with until it matches slightly better and then you'd even try a FluidMorph on it and after it doesn't work in the most awkward way, you'd all come to the conclusion that it's better to just leave the idea out as it apparently doesn't lead anywhere.
Bravery. That is what we need in editing today. The digital technologies have freed us up, but I sometimes think they have, ironically, also made us dangerously aware of our ability to alter things to a neverending extent and that has led to us being super apprehensive about taking things a step too far. Don't be. Be brave. Be BOLD. Believe in the cut you're wanting to make.
Kubrick didn't give a f-Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?