Stuff

Kubrick loved the cinema. He wanted his films to be seen on the big screen under the best possible conditions: good sound, a clean and intact print, comfortable chairs…

To that end he had spies out checking on showings and making notes to report back (I know, I sat next to one once).

We wonder what he would have thought of the current state of yer average multiplex: they are expensive, projection quality is often poor, sound can be tinny and the digital projection is lacking. There is no replacement for actual film.

Barry Lyndon is an historical epic. It covers, over three hours, the efforts of an Irish country bumpkin who wants money and power and a title.

Visually, it’s a stunning film. It’s slow, to give you time to take in the scenes, and often pulls back revealing more.

There’s Kubrick’s beloved narration. Episodes from the book on which it is based are removed.

There are some stunning performances, especially Murray Melvin as Runt.

And the music reflects the story so well.

And then… there’s some duff acting. Ryan O’Neal is presumably doing what his director asked, but the accent varies and the actor seems a bit, er, distracted. A big name star here does not work. And Leon Vitali as the older step-son is another negative.

Despite some negatives, it’s a film to be seen. There’s no cgi here, no electronic score, just decent, honest, old-fashioned film making. It wasn’t a box office success at the time, and, while so many Kubrick titles are available on 4K for home viewing, Barry Lyndon is not. Maybe the medium can’t do it justice. Maybe there’s no market for it, and we can make do with a bluray.

Barry wants money and power and respect, regardless of who he has to walk over and however badly he treats his wife. Perfect for our Trumpian times.

Kubrick had made 2001, and was under pressure to make an on-budget film in a reasonable time. So he picked the novel A Clockwork Orange and this is what we have.

There’s so much stuff written about this film and its effects on the world. The truth is, some people already motivated to violence used it as an excuse. We rather think Alex might have done the same.

The film put Thamesmead on the map, and actually it’s not better now than it was then, probably worse. It feels like an abandoned area of London.

The film was withdrawn in the UK (not banned) and current versions are slightly different from the one we saw in Leicester Square when it came out. We have a rather odd book of the script illustrated by black and white frames from the film, and there are definitely some differences.

It’s a dated film, funny in parts, but with a very interesting score. There is violence, of course, but nothing really terrible. It’s definitely not gory.

Kubrick’s look at the Vietnam war, and definitely not a comedy.

We saw this on the first Saturday it was out in the UK at the old Warner’s cinema in Leicester Square. In the audience was a whole gang of US marines who were cheering and clapping the whole way through the first part, the training. They clearly recognised everything depicted there.

Matthew Modine does what he has to do as our anti-hero. R Lee Ermey carries the first part. But the real star is the old and abandoned gasworks in Beckton, now long gone (so save yourself a journey). But we do remember seeing them.

Some parts of the film are cringeworthy, like when Joker is challenged about his Peace symbol.

Great music though.