Up close with spiders

THIS IS THE KIND of epic visual feast to which only an IMAX cinema can really do justice.

Strap yourself in for the history of the cosmos – an immersive journey that spans the aeons from the Big Bang through to the beginnings of life, down to its final, (speculative) dramatic collapse.

Acclaimed filmmaker Terrence Malick, famous for The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life, is well-known for creating aesthetic masterpieces and Voyage of Time, Malick’s first – and ambitious – documentary, looks to be no exception.

Witness the birth of stars and galaxies, and travel alongside the ebbs and flows of life on our planet.

Malick collaborated with leading US scientists to get the science right in creating astrophysical imagery, capture the evolution of Earth’s complex organisms from unicellular life and recreate movements of extinct animals.

Brad Pitt narrates the 40-minute IMAX cinema version of the film and Cate Blanchett’s soothing voice accompanies the feature-length edition, which debuted at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.

While this documentary describes the cataclysmic beginnings of the universe, the birth of this film also saw turbulence. In 2013, Malick was dragged to court by the film’s investor Seven Seas Partnership over claims that Malick’s company, Sycamore Pictures, funnelled millions from the documentary’s funds to other films.

But Voyage’s future was secured in 2015, when IMAX Corporation and Broad Green Pictures joined Sophisticated Films and Wild Bunch to pick up the tab, securing an exclusive IMAX release.

“Terrence Malick is one of the most innovative filmmakers in the world,” IMAX Corporation CEO Greg Foster said in a press release. Investing in Voyage of Time, he added, was “capturing lightning in a bottle”.

With snippets of the long-anticipated film revealing artistic imagery only too characteristic of Malick, this film will be well worth the wait.