![]() ![]() He likes to take organic subjects and disassemble them as if they were mechanical. The title of "Clockwork," from Anthony Burgess' novel, illustrates Kubrick's attitude to his material. The most "human" character in " 2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is the computer, and " A Clockwork Orange" (1971) is disturbing specifically in its objectivity about violence. Kubrick's work has a sense of detachment and bloodlessness. ![]() There is no other way to see Barry than the way Kubrick sees him. How many directors would have had Kubrick's confidence in taking this ultimately inconsequential story of a man's rise and fall, and realizing it in a style that dictates our attitude toward it? We don't simply see Kubrick's movie, we see it in the frame of mind he insists on - unless we're so closed to the notion of directorial styles that the whole thing just seems like a beautiful extravagance (which it is). Never mind its budget or the perfectionism in its 300-day shooting schedule. ![]() When the time comes for her to sign an annuity check for the man who nearly destroyed her family, her pen pauses momentarily, then smoothly advances. Is there any passion in her marriage? She loves their son as Barry does, but that seems to be their only feeling in common. Study the face of Marisa Berenson, as Lady Lyndon. Look at the curling sneer of the lips of Leonard Rossiter, as Captain Quin, who ends Barry's youthful affair with a cousin by an advantageous offer of marriage. The other characters seem cast primarily for their faces and their presence, certainly not for their personalities. Nor do his triumphs - in gambling, con games, a fortunate marriage and even acquiring a title - seem to bring him much joy. As one terrible event after another occurs to him, he projects an eerie calm. O'Neal easily seems self-pitying, narcissistic, on the verge of tears. Finney could not possibly have played Lyndon. Consider Albert Finney in " Tom Jones," for example, bursting with vitality. Not a particularly charismatic actor, he is ideal for the role. Only the death of his son devastates him and that perhaps because he sees himself in the boy. He loses a fortune, a wife or a leg with as little emotion as he might in losing a dog. It's difficult to imagine such tumultuous events whirling around such a passive character. This news doesn't much depress us, because Kubrick has directed Ryan O'Neal in the title role as if he were a still life. Many of its developments take place off-screen, the narrator informing us what's about to happen, and we learn long before the film ends that its hero is doomed. It defies us to care, it asks us to remain only observers of its stately elegance. " Barry Lyndon" is aggressive in its cool detachment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |