Stanley Kubrick

[leftace53]

Inspired by the clockwork orange thread, talk about Kubrick and his movies here.

I've seen a few works by Kubrick (Lolita, Strangelove, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut), and have loved all of them (2001 was a bit slow at times though). I love the pessimissm portrayed through his films and the techniques used (like the slow long panning in/out of camera). I also find the soundtracks used in his movies work perfectly with the video and what he tries to convey. Of the only Tarkovsky movie I've seen (Stalker) I found some striking similarities between the general "air" of cinematography for the two directors.

What do you think of his movies? What of his works have you watched?

[x359594]

Quite honestly I find Kubrick's work uneven. I've seen Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Barry Lyndon, The Shinning, and Full Metal Jacket in addition to the titles mentioned above. That's all the features he directed (there are several shorts apparently unavailable.)

His first three pictures are very watchable; Fear and Desire is the first of his anti-war movies. Made on a tight budget at the end of the Korean War it takes place in an unnamed country and doesn't specify the combatants. It's best characterized as strained seriousness.

Killer's Kiss and The Killing are both better pictures solidly within the film noir tradition, but The Killing exhibits a trace of self-conscious artiness.

I judge Paths of Glory as Kubrick's first mature work, graced with a screenplay by Jim Thompson. Here you can see the Kubrick trademark mise-en-scene at work, the long tracking shots, the ironic distance, the deliberate pacing.

Spartacus was an assignments and the best parts were shot by Anthony Mann before he was fired from the picture. Lolita was pretty good, same for "Strangelove."

2001: A Space Odyssey was the first intelligent and scientifically plausible science fiction film out of Hollywood (and apparently the last.) There were no open ports on the space ship; space was treated as the vaccum it is where sound doesn't carry, weightlessness was shown and the conventions of up and down were abandoned in key scenes. I thought it Kubrick's best movie to date.

Then we come to A Clockwork Orange. As accomplished as it was (with the exception of the fast motion orgy, a lame frat boy's idea of humor) I also found it utterly despicable.

But Barry Lyndon perfectly suited Kubrick's sensibility. This is the last entirely satisfactory Kubrick movie for me. The Shinning had its moments, Full Metal Jacket was excessively mannered (too many rhyming reverse angels and train track-like tracking shoots,) and Eyes Wide Shut was too distanced for my taste (although rumor has it that Kubrick had not really finished it at the time of his death.)

[Chimurenga.]

Eh, I prefer Lynch. I still have to see Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, and 2001, though.

[Jimmie Higgins]

2001 is the best combination of subject matter and his cold and distant style: little people, big empty space. The Shining had a similar effect - the size of the hotel and the isolation really come across and add to the film. I love Spartacus because of the subject matter and Kirk Douglas's chin but, yeah, I never really think of it as a Kubric film whereas his mark is felt much more in his later movies.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Dr. Strangelove is his best film, in my opinion. I love the pitch-black humor and themes in it (we actually watched it in Poli Sci class).

The Shining is really good as well, despite the presence of Shelley Duvall.

[Terminator X]

I love Kubrick's films for the atmospheric vibe he creates - every single film is organic in a way that makes it feel like it breathes and moves through the screen, like you're part of the action or situation. I think he used this technique to great effect in "Eyes Wide Shut" - the film is so dreamlike that I don't even know if Tom Cruise's entire "experience" in that film was real or imagined.

As for technique, two major points stand out to me:

1. Symmetry - Kubrick used symmetry in almost every wide-angle shot - watch The Shining and take note of how many shots involve the use of a hallway or room with the camera panning backward. Nicholson roaming the halls of the hotel. Danny riding his big wheel down the hall. The twins. The war room of Dr. Strangelove is geometric to an extreme. 2001 is full of symmetrical cabins and corridors. In Full Metal Jacket, the drill sergeant's murder takes place in a latrine with toilets lining each side of the walls.

2. Extreme close-ups - In every major Kubrick film there is a character or characters who at one point become the focus of the camera's attention in an extreme closeup of their contorted expression.

-Dr. Strangelove: Gen. Buck Turgidson, Gen. Ripper, and Strangelove himself all exhibit the contorted face at one time or another.
-2001: A Space Odyssey: When Bowman is going "beyond the infinite," there are several extreme close ups of his contorted, agonized expression.
-The Shining: Here's Johnny.
-A Clockwork Orange: The author, one of Alex's victims, on recognizing Alex when he enters his house.
-Full Metal Jacket: Private Pyle during his mental breakdown.


Anyway, just for fun, my top 5 Kubrick films are:


1. A Clockwork Orange
2. 2001
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. The Shining
5. Dr. Strangelove

[howblackisyourflag]

Barry Lyndon is his best film, although the first time I watched it I found it boring I have enjooyed watching it many times since, Strangelove is very funny, they are all great really.