A Glean movie guide
Beyond the Event Horizon
Space, time, and the human heart.
High-concept sci-fi that blends theoretical physics with deep emotional stakes.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Contact
A brilliant scientist journeys through a wormhole in a search for connection that mirrors Ellie’s bond with her father.
A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.
- 02
Arrival
A linguist’s encounter with aliens reveals a non-linear perspective on time and the profound weight of parenthood.
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
- 03
2001: A Space Odyssey
The definitive epic of human evolution and space travel that served as the primary blueprint for Interstellar.
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
- 04
The Martian
A thrilling celebration of human ingenuity and hard science as an astronaut fights to survive on a desolate Mars.
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
- 05
Inception
Christopher Nolan explores the elastic nature of time and a father’s desperate drive to return to his children.
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
- 06
Ad Astra
A visually stunning odyssey across the solar system centered on a son’s search for his legendary, lost father.
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
- 07
Sunshine
A high-stakes mission to save a dying Earth that captures the awe and terrifying scale of our solar system.
Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.
- 08
Solaris
A haunting, philosophical masterpiece that examines how grief and memory manifest in the silence of deep space.
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.
- 09
Gravity
A relentless survival thriller that uses groundbreaking visuals to convey the isolation and danger of the void.
Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer, is on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The Shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone-tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness of space. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
- 10
Proxima
A grounded drama focusing on the agonizing emotional preparation of an astronaut leaving her young daughter behind.
Sarah is a French astronaut training at the European Space Agency in Cologne. She is the only woman in the arduous program. She lives alone with Stella, her seven year old daughter. Sarah feels guilty that she cannot spend more time with her child. Her love is overpowering, unsettling. When Sarah is chosen to join the crew of a year-long space mission called Proxima, it creates chaos in the mother-daughter relationship.
- 11
First Man
A visceral look at the technical dangers and personal sacrifices required to take humanity’s first steps on the moon.
A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
- 12
High Life
A challenging, experimental look at a father and daughter’s survival as they hurtle toward a massive black hole.
A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.