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Today is Stanley Kubrick’s birthday and now I’m starting a tradition of writing about Kubrick on his birthday. Kubrick is one of the most focussed and precise filmmakers ever to commit images to film. He worked deliberately and slowly to craft masterpieces that hold up extraordinarily well. I recently found some more great collections of links and information about Kubrick. The wonderful Coudal Partners (creators of the Jewelboxing system) have a magazine-style site filled with great links. They also have a collection of Stuff About Stanley Kubrick and pointed to Filmbrain’s pointer to a pdf of Kubrick’s script for Napoleon, which was never filmed, as well as some other great links to Kubrick stuff. Filmbrain also found and was able to watch many earlier Kubrick films including Fear and Desire, Day of the Fight, The Seafarers, and The Flying Padre.
Last year I tried to watch all of Kubrick’s films before his birthday, but managed to just get through most of the black and white ones. Maybe tonight I’ll watch Barry Lyndon, which is one of my favourites. I think that Barry Lyndon is often overlooked because of the slower pacing and the tone. It’s amazing to watch both visually and with the story. Once you settle into the rhythm of the film it moves along beautifully as we watch the tragedy unfold.
