January 2012 marked my first visit to the violent, ruthless and magic world of Stanley Kubrick's movies.
„Here you are, sir, main level please.“ were the cold welcoming words that drew me into a film that I have declared to be one of my favourites - without having seen it another time since then. And now, almost a year later, I happen to have seen all there is to see of Kubrick's work, my journey ending with a word equally precise as the welcoming ones: „Fuck“.
The two quotes are, as you might know (if not, you've missed two great films), from the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Open - respectively. The ironic side of this is that they share the rank of being my favourite Kubrick films.
"Kubrick". Just listen to the sound of that name. It's a name I've associated with crazy brilliancy even before watching one of his movies. And each movie I saw before accepting the challenge of watching his whole filmography, confirmed this association. The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon - all great films. All favourites.
It shouldn't come as a surprise then, that I wasn't able to develop the same feelings towards the remaining Kubrick films I watched in the last few weeks. Out of 13 feature films and three shorts, some must be less brilliant than the others. Indeed, only three of those recently watched films are ones I consider to be exceptional or brilliant; Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket and Lolita.
Has my picture of Kubrick being some kind of holy God-like film master changed? Yes, it has. I've seen his (not very impressive) beginnings, development of an own style and voice, as well as I've seen his brilliant side. But while my admiration may have faded a little, my fascination has grown. For Kubrick is one of the most fascinating filmmakers I know - and so are his films.
Perhaps every filmmaker becomes fascinating or interesting once you dig a little deeper - I think this is true for many things in life.
What you should know is that I haven't been researching a lot on Kubrick's personal life. I know that he wasn't good in school, and that he was a friend of Kirk Douglas, until they had a big fight. He also became more independent through his career, but that's not very unusual. And he disappeared for many years.
I'm sure all these things and many more are interesting, but what I want to focus on in this post is really Kubrick's work - his films - not his private life.
Those who haven't seen many of Kubrick's movies and want to be surprised, beware of spoilers, while those who have seen many of Kubrick's movies might think I'm just repeating stuff I've read on the internet - which I haven't. I intentionally haven't researched on the movies, because so much has been written about it and I am afraid of just repeating some of that massive material.
Whatever, bla bla, here's what Kubrick's movies have touched, moved or provoked in me.
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