Debapriya Bhattacharya
Directed by Christopher Nolan, ‘Interstellar’ takes place in the middle of the 21st century when planet Earth is seemingly heading towards a slow death. Resources necessary for sustaining humanity are rapidly depleting due to frequent dust storms and a global crop blight. In a last-ditch effort to save mankind, NASA plans to transport humans to a new home planet through a wormhole. With three planets to choose from, former spacecraft pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers are sent ahead to determine the one most suitable. The science fiction epic of 2014 brings to life space and time travel in extraordinary detail, as well as explores human relationships at various levels. If you’ve enjoyed the film in theaters, here is a list of movies similar to ‘Interstellar’ that you can stream on Netflix.
10. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
Inspired by director Richard Linklater’s life, ‘Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood’ is an animated film that depicts a fictional version of the 1969 moon landing. It centers around a young kid who lives near the NASA command center in Houston, Texas, and grows up to become the first man to walk on the moon. It approaches the subject of space travel with childlike wonder, with Stanley (Jack Black, as an adult) getting the opportunity to live his dream. The out-of-the-world adventure he gets to participate in is a stepping stone to making the voyage of ‘Interstellar’ possible. You can watch the movie here.
9. Cargo (2019)
Helmed by Arati Kadav, ‘Cargo’ stars Vikrant Massey as Prahastha, a scientist in a dimension where human souls reach after their death in the mortal world. His base is a spaceship named Pushpak 634A, where he works for the Post Death Transition services. The job incorporates recycling old souls and preparing them for rebirth on Earth. Working alone for years, things change when Prahastha is assigned a new assistant, a female astronaut named Yuvishka Shekhar (Shweta Tripathi). Like ‘Interstellar,’ the film discusses the subject of alienation while travelling through space, as well as the concept of other dimensions that are linked with our plane of existence. You can watch the movie on Netflix.
8. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
Set in 2028, ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ by Julius Onah depicts Earth in the middle of a global energy crisis. As a possible solution, agencies across the globe combine their resources and prepare a particle accelerator onboard the Cloverfield space station to produce infinite energy. However, when the accelerator is activated, the astronauts in the space station discover that their home planet has disappeared. The element of horror is introduced in the science fiction film with the appearance of an unidentified space shuttle, thus deviating from the hyperrealism of ‘Interstellar.’ You can check out the movie here.
7. The Wandering Earth (2019)
Frant Gwo directed ‘The Wandering Earth’ based on a short story of the same name written by Liu Cixin. It takes place far in the future when a dying Sun threatens to engulf Earth. Uniting under a world government in the moment of unprecedented crisis, humans create powerful thrusters to move the planet out of the solar system and to a new star system. The film shows humanity making a last, ludicrous attempt to save itself from impending doom, similar to what takes place in ‘Interstellar.’ You can watch the movie here.
6. Oxygen (2021)
‘Oxygen’ by Alexandre Aja follows a young woman (Mélanie Laurent) who wakes up inside a cryogenic pod with no memory of who she is and how she got here. The cause of her gaining consciousness is the level of oxygen falling at an alarming rate in her pod, endangering her chances of survival. However, she is not able to exit the pod, as it requires an administrator code. Aided by the artificial intelligence M.I.L.O., the woman frantically searches for an escape as well as information about who she is. ‘Oxygen’ highlights some of the perils of undertaking voyages through space, more of which are explored in ‘Interstellar.’ Check out ‘Oxygen’ on Netflix.
5. The Adam Project (2022)
Shawn Levy’s ‘The Adam Project’ centers around Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds), a fighter pilot in the dystopian 2050. To save his wife, Laura Shane (Zoe Saldaña), from being assassinated, Adam steals a time jet to travel to 2018. While attempting to return to his original place in the timeline, Adam crash-lands in 2022 and encounters his younger self (Walker Scobell). The two work together to stop Maya Sorian, an evil businesswoman who seeks to monopolize time travel and become the most influential person in the world. The subject of space and time travel, as seen in the movie, is also seen in ‘Interstellar,’ where it gets explained in greater detail and more realistically. ‘The Adam Project’ can be watched here.
4. IO (2019)
Directed by Jonathan Helpert, ‘IO’ is set in a post-apocalyptic future where most of Earth has become toxic and uninhabitable. Almost all humans have left the planet and settled down in a colony on one of Jupiter’s moons, IO. However, young scientist Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley) refuses to believe that there is no hope for survival on Earth, and stays back on the planet to come up with a way. While working, she comes across Micah (Anthony Mackie), a man who does not share her views and is desperate to be on the last shuttle to IO that leaves in two days. Mirroring the plot of ‘Interstellar,’ humans look for and even manage to establish an extraterrestrial colony in ‘IO.’ However, the stories differ as one follows the characters who travel through space, while the other follows those who stay back. Watch ‘IO’ on Netflix.
3. The Midnight Sky (2020)
Based on the novel ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Lily Brooks-Dalton, ‘The Midnight Sky’ is directed by and stars George Clooney as Augustine Lofthouse, an aging scientist who dedicated his life to finding other habitable planets. In 2049, after a disastrous event has wiped out most of Earth’s population and left its surface contaminated with ionizing radiation, Augustine stays alone in a large Arctic base. Searching computer systems, he finds an active crewed mission in outer space and races against time to warn them against returning to Earth. The exploration of human relationships in the movies, as well as the apparent inability of the astronauts to return to the home planet that they left, resonates with the narrative of ‘Interstellar.’ Check out the movie here.
2. Stowaway (2021)
‘Stowaway’ by Joe Penna centers around a group of three astronauts on their way to Mars for a two-year mission. The team includes Mission Commander Marina Barnett (Toni Collette), biologist David Kim (Daniel Dae Kim), and medical researcher Zoe Levenson (Anna Kendrick). However, shortly after takeoff, they discover launch support engineer Michael Adams (Shamier Anderson) unconscious on the craft, causing damage to the ship’s life support systems. With oxygen rapidly depleting in the spacecraft, they face an impossible decision that mirrors the brutal choices the characters in ‘Interstellar’ are forced to make. You can watch the movie on Netflix.
1. Spaceman (2024)
Helmed by Johan Renck, ‘Spaceman’ is based on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař. It follows Czech cosmonaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler), who is six months into a space mission that has taken him beyond Jupiter. While tackling the task at hand, Jakub realizes that his marriage to Lenka (Carey Mulligan), whom he left behind on Earth while pregnant, is falling apart. In his moment of grief and reflection, a mysterious spider-like creature from the bowels of the spaceship helps Jakub to make sense of everything around him. There are many noticeable similarities between ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Interstellar,’ from leaving behind loved ones to interacting with beings of higher orders. Most importantly, the films depict a journey inwards as much as through space. Watch the film here.
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