In cinema terms, space still represents the greatest adventure, if not necessarily the final frontier. Western governments may have abandoned ambitious programmes but screenwriters persist in placing their superheroes at the far reaches of the galaxy or their star protagonists (such as Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity, say) beyond the reach of terrestrial emergency services. In space, no one can hear you scream – unless it’s in 3-D.Interstellar conforms less to this adventurous model than to the contemplative kind; it’s in a loose fraternity with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey or Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running as a film of jaw-dropping moments and distinct lingering atmosphere. It begins in the near future with our planet desiccated an