The Uncanny Sight of Waves Breaking on a Star

t starts with a slow and steady tick. Hans Zimmer’s “Mountains” begins playing, in the film , when the astronauts land on a watery planet orbiting a black hole, dilating time. An hour there is seven years back on Earth. The ticks begin to ramp up, marking off not moments in time anymore but something approaching their spaceship. What one of the astronauts thinks are “mountains” is actually a wave. The pilot orders everyone back, a tidal spectacle courtesy of the black hole. “And we’re in the middle of a swell.”