2001: A Space Odyssey (film) for its scientifically accurate depiction of spaceflight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. Sound and dialogue are used sparingly and often in place of traditional cinematic and narrative techniques. The soundtrack incorporates a number of pieces of classical music, among them "Also sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss, "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II, and works by Aram Khachaturian and György Ligeti. "2001: A Space Odyssey" was financed and distributed by American studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but filmed and edited almost entirely in England, where Kubrick lived, using the facilities of MGM-British Studios and Shepperton Studios. Production was subcontracted to Kubrick's production
2001: A Space Odyssey (film) level of being that represents the next stage of human evolution. The film also conveys what some viewers have described as a sense of the sublime and numinous. Ebert writes in his essay on "2001" in "The Great Movies": In a book on architecture, Gregory Caicco writes that "Space Odyssey" illustrates how our quest for space is motivated by two contradictory desires, a "desire for the sublime" characterized by a need to encounter something totally other than ourselves—"something numinous"—and the conflicting desire for a beauty that makes us feel no longer "lost in space," but at home. Similarly, an article