Eyes Wide Shut is my best Kubrick film.
I know lots of people were disappointed with it.
Did they expect more sexual scenes in it?
Barry Lyndon is my favorite, closely followed by The Shining and Full Metal Jacket, but frankly they are all pretty great, except for maybe Fear and Desire.
The Killing, then Dr. Strangelove second.
Top 3
Lolita
The Killing
Killer’s Kiss
Kubrick Top 3
The Shining
Eyes Wide Shut
A Clockwork Orange
I don’t know why people were disappointed by Eyes Wide Shut. Or maybe I do. I think his casting of Tom Cruise is inspired, given that it’s a film about power/patriarchy/identity, and our failure to experience ourselves. The problem with the audience reaction is that it takes a brave mind to recognize and embrace the point he’s making: that we are living under an ideology so pervasive it pollutes every aspect of our existence and controls the very language we use to describe the experience. Give it 50 years: a newer generation unfettered with the complaints of this one will embrace it.
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
2001 A Space Odyssey
I love everything he has done, but those 3 stand out the most to me.
The Shining
A Clockwork Orange
Full Metal Jacket
I heard a rumor about Eyes Wide Shut, supposedly to help Cruise and Kidman better capture their characters Kubrick had them reveal all their sexual desires to him. And in the original cut Kubrick made multiple references to Cruise’s homosexuality and so Cruise threatened to sue if the film wasn’t cut. A rumor, but remember, nothing ever is just a rumor.
For me, 2001: Space Odyssey is one of most daring and original movies ever made. It is intellectually and visually very challenging, even in today’s film standards, and it must have been a very bold move in Kubrick’s part to make this movie in 1968. And this is precisely, why I LOVE Kubrick, because he always takes a lot of big risks and reflects ONLY precisely his vision, as opposed to agreeing with everything the studios asks him to do…
Re: rumors. Is anyone in any doubt about Cruise’s (a)sexuality? With or without cuts, the film still points at it, or rather it points at the fact that his character is so consumed by the idea of his masculinity that he competes almost exclusively in a male arena, and fails to see or understand women/the feminine/his wife. This is why I think Kubrick’s a genius. He always had a knack of casting actors that embodied the role exactly. It’s the same with “The Shining”: he plays Jack Nicholson the way a concert musician plays a violin, and creates a song of madness, ego and obsession. And again in “Space Odyssey” – he took Keir Dullea’s slightly weird, detached persona and milked it for the role of Dave Bowman, an astronaut thrown to the edge of higher consciousness. And so on.
I remember reading somewhere about the young Kubrick on the set of “The Killing”. Because it was a union film, he was forced to work with a union cinematographer, the much older and more experienced Lucien Ballard. On the first day of shooting Kubrick measured the distance between actor and shot and demanded an aperture and lens to create an appropriate atmosphere (I forget the exact details) – and Ballard halved the distance and doubled the lens aperture, which although technically the same, would have completely changed the depth of field as read by the human eye. Kubrick walked straight up to Ballard and looked him in the eye and told him that there was vast difference between art and industry. Ballard argued for a moment, and then backed down. That kind of testicular fortitude defines a great director. Attention to detail. Willpower to get the shot you want. The vision to know what you want in the first place.
While I’ve always found Kubrick to be a very impressive technical director, his films have always hit me as cold and sterile. Kubrick seemed to have a rather contemptuous take on humanity that led to a detached sensibility throughout his films. He never really seemed to care about any of his characters which is probably important when you’re making largely character-driven films. Even his technical innovations seem to be pretty unremarkable now that they’ve been copied by every mainstream director (besides the high-speed lens he used to capture the candle-light in Barry Lyndon).
Ah, the common complaint about Kubrick! Since when do all films have to be warm? Is not Kubrick’s “great subject” society’s process of de-humanization? Couldn’t it possibly be to easy to make a warm, cheery, deeply sentimental work about the bad things that happen to good people? Why is distance and reflection always a complaint? Kubrick has many fantastic sympathetic, human characters. I see no evidence of “not caring for his characters” and would be happy for anyone to point out to me instances thereof. Saying he is technically impressive also ignores the artistry of his application of the technology; are you going to tell me the use of the steadicam in The Shining was pure flash, that the special effects of 2001 was just spectacle, that, uh, the pictorialism of Barry Lyndon was for the sake of prettiness? It’s not about innovation, it is about application. Sure everyone uses a steadicam, but no one uses it in the same way, to express things in new cinematic ways as he did.
We have already been blessed with Renoir, so why require him to be in every filmmaker ever after?
Didn’t the Illuminati kill Kubrick for revealing their inner machinations in Eyes Wide Shut? That’s what I heard.
Top 3:
Dr Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
Paths of Glory
It’s a shame Kubrick never got Napoleon off the ground with Nicholson; that would have been more interesting than the beautiful but constipated Barry Lyndon.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Dr. Strangelove
3. Paths of Glory
01 Barry Lyndon
02 The Shining
03 Full Metal Jacket
tempting to include the terminally underrated/discussed/liked Lolita…
1.Dr.Strangelove
2.Full Metal Jacket
3.2001: A Space Odyssey
4.Clockwork Orange (of course!)
5.Eyes Wide Shut (I know, I know. . .Shoot me) BANG!
And yeah I hear you on “Lolita” DKAZ. . .Very tempting indeed…
For anyone who has never viewed a Kubrick film, you should work your way to each film. Don’t just go and watch Eyes wide shut. He is so unique that he is not for everyone. I didn’t recommend eyes wide shut to any of my friends and even warned them not to see it. For i had the feeling that they would not understand or appreciate the film, and they didn’t. i would follow his movie’s almost in chronological order. Starting with Killer’s Kiss and his first masterpiece The Killing.
1. Paths of Glory
2. The Killing
3. A Clockwork Orange
Believe or not…..for me “Eyes Wide Shut” it´s simply a tribute for the faithfullness between husband and wife….sublime
1. Barry Lyndon
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. A Clockwork Orange
4. The Killing
5. Full Metal Jacket
“Eyes Wide Shut” is for Kubrick like the “Viaggio In Italia” is for Rossellini, but here everything is crossed by states of drowsiness. This film belongs at the same family that Nobuhiro Suwa’s “Un couple parfait” or Eric Rohmer’s “Conte d’hiver”. The miracle comes at the end… The revelation.
Pialat: spot on, except The Killing should be replaced by 2001: A Space Odyssey.
That’s a tough one, i for one agree 2001 belongs on any kubrick top five. The Killing although is definitely worth being considered one of his top films. I would switch it with Barry Lyndon but then we all have our views of what we like about Kubrick.
1. Lolita
2. The Killing
3. Barry Lyndon
Even tho I feel different about some of his work, I can appreciate him even if I don’t like some of his movies.
Kubrick is one of the greatest directors of all time, and Eyes Wide Shut is his most underrated film. I understand that Kubrick’s films are cold, but not every movie has to be warm. My favorite Kubrick films are:
1-A Clockwork Orange (Disturbing but brilliant, with an amazing performance by Malcom Mcdowel)
2-2001 :A Space Odyssey (One of the most influential Science Fiction films of all time)
3-Eyes Wide Shut (In a couple of decades this will be hailed as a masterpiece)
A Clockwork Orange, Paths of Glory, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, The Killing, and 2001: A Space Odyssey
oh man do i wish he made napoleon. i would be interested in someone taking his research and doing their version of the film. not someone trying to be kubrick, but more so re-interpreting.
Dr. Strangelove
The Shining
Spartacus
I just wish he was more productive in his last twenty years. What the hell happened? I know he’s a perfectionist, but still…
Juan C.P.
Wheter I’m a fan or not,
For me, Stanley Kubrick is hands down one of the most complete directors ever.
I’ve yet to see a contemporary director that does such a wide range of films, in such a perfect and precise manner.
Top 3 Kubrick:
- A Clockwork Orange
- Eyes Wide Shut (I never understood why people trashed this film so much when it came out)
- Dr. Strangelove