For the longest time I had never seen a Stanley Kubrick film (INSERT GASP HERE). Recently I’ve been trying my darndest to play catch-up with other movie buffs around the world. First I rented Full Metal Jacket. Then I caught Lolita on Turner Classic Movies. Then, my friend Todd let me borrow his Kubrick Collection and I have watched A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. My impressions of Kubrick probably don’t gel with other film fans, because I’m still struggling to find out why this particular auteur is so legendary. But before you shoot me for such heresies, let me say a few things:
First, he had some extraordinary art direction. 2001, for example, has remarkable set pieces and beautiful color. Second, he had a unique visual style. The costuming in A Clockwork Orange is truly out of the ordinary. Third, he could establish mood simply by his lighting scheme. This is evident in the climactic moments of The Shining when the family is completely snowbound. And he could illicit some classic performances from his actors, like Lee Ermy in Full Metal Jacket.
However, several of the films I have seen thus far suffer from horribly slow pacing, like 2001, and non-sensical plot elements (just check out the ending of 2001; however, I have heard that the ending makes more sense if you read the novel). I found Full Metal Jacket to be anti-climatic, as the best moments of the film are the moments when the soldiers are in boot camp. Overall I haven’t yet found anything in his films that I might consider truly innovative for its time. Perhaps I just don’t realize what his contemporaries were producing around the time he was making his films. Any opinions here would be greatly appreciated.
no comment until now