Director Appreciation: The Life & Work of Stanley Kubrick

Ask any Director, Cinematographer, or up and coming film student about who has influenced them, and chances are the name Stanley Kubrick will pop-up. Over a career spanning nearly fifty years, Kubrick made just thirteen feature films - almost all of which are now considered classics - and lived a life away from the public eye, emerging once or twice a decade to release a new film. Many have been quick to label him a 'recluse' because of this, but was he really? Like Kubrick's films, you're unlikely to get any answers here, but as I also appreciate and am influenced by his work, I feel that it's time we explored the quirky, ambiguous and totally wonderful world of Stanley Kubrick.

Stanley grew up in the Bronx, New York, was passionate about Jazz, and became an accomplished chess player, both of which influenced his rigorous and unique style of film-making. After his father purchased a stills camera for his birthday, Stanley began to take a keen interest in amateur photography, eventually landing a job as a staff photographer at 'Look' magazine. All the while, he was building his interest in motion pictures with regular visits to the cinema. He directed two short films before making his first feature length film, Fear and Desire, at the age of just 25.

Stanley's photographic training was key in the development of his directing techniques, and he was known for being incredibly meticulous about each shot, to the extent that on his third picture The Killing, the still relatively unknown Kubrick almost fired the well-established Lucien Ballard (Cinematographer), for not setting-up a particular shot in the manner that he had explained it to him.

The unparallelled style of Kubrick's films came from his emphasis on cinematography and unusual treatment of actors. He took no notice of the so called 'rules' of film-making and utilised techniques that even today, would be jarring to an audience, including long drawn-out scenes, wide and unusual camera angles (such as his regular use of one-point-perspective as seen in the video below), and interestingly, what has been described as his 'cinematic coldness'. That is, he took his characters to a point beyond the emotional, where the audience was completely unable to sympathise with them, yet would analyse and brood over their actions, long after the end of the film.

Kubrick // One-Point Perspective from kogonada on Vimeo.

Much of this 'cinematic coldness' came from the way he would treat his actors, fostering individual relationships with them to suit the needs of the characters that they would portray, such as with Shelley Duvall in The Shining, where he would nit-pick uncompromisingly - he made her retake one particular scene 127 times - until she was almost on the brink of a breakdown, just as Wendy was supposed to be. This 'method directing' if you will, aligned with his complete focus and drive for perfectionism in his projects. He was notorious for hundreds of re-takes and long shooting schedules, as well as spending years in pre-production, often just deciding on locations.

He was a man totally dedicated to his work, and in no rush to finish it. This is evident in all of his films, including Paths of Glory, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining, all of which we'll now look at in more detail.

Paths of Glory (1957):

Kubrick's second war film, Paths of Glory, takes an uncompromising look at the workings of the French army in WWI, and - apart from the 1918 french film J'accuse, which contained real footage from the front - it is arguably one of the most haunting representations of the horrors of trench warfare on film.

After a failed attack into no-mans land, led by Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), General Mireau (George Macready) decides to court-marshal three soldiers for cowardice.

Kubrick once said that making a war film is "a unique opportunity to contrast an individual...with a solid framework of accepted value" and Paths of Glory certainly conveys the hopelessness of war, ending with a bittersweet song and the news that the men are to return to the front. The film is an early example of Kubrick's technical prowess emerging. Just look at the drawn-out tracking shot of Dax wandering through the trench in the video below, and the effectiveness of these choices becomes clear.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):

However, if Paths of Glory is a mere glimpse at Kubrick's talent, then 2001: A Space Odyssey is the culmination of all his expertise in one hypnotic, memorable chapter of film history. Space Odyssey is unlike almost any other film, doing away with complex plots and character arcs, with the sole intent to inspire and immerse the audience in the boundless beauty (and terror) of space. If ever there was an argument for film as art, Space Odyssey is the primary evidence.

In the early twenty-first century, a mysterious black monolith is discovered on the moon, transmitting high-frequency signals towards Jupiter. The 'Discovery One' spacecraft, with pilots Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) on-board, is sent to Jupiter to investigate. Though their mission encounters difficulties when their malfunctioning ships computer, the HAL-9000 (Douglas Rain), turns neurotic and endangers the lives of the crew.

Released at the height of the space race, just one year before the U.S landed men on the moon, 2001 captured the imaginations of  a generation, and has continued to do so into the present day. A visual masterpiece, Kubrick utilised large format 70mm film to deliver a crisp ultra-widescreen experience. Superbly detailed models were hand-crafted and a huge spinning 'ferris-wheel' like set was constructed for the centrifugal section of the ship. The bewildering, but certainly mesmerising final sequence of the film, 'Jupiter and beyond the infinite' used slit-scan photography to create the rushing beams of light, and all of this was done for (when adjusted for inflation) roughly half the budget of the first Transformers movie. The special effects of 2001 still hold up well today, and earned (rightly so) Kubrick his only ever Academy Award.

This oddly evocative scene when Bowman deactivates HAL still remains one of the most haunting scenes in cinema

A Clockwork Orange (1972):

By far Kubrick's most controversial film, A Clockwork Orange, caused Kubrick so much trouble, that he actually had it banned in the UK - not something that just any director could do. It's one of those films that is capable of making you physically repulse, yet you don't. You just watch it again. This is the brilliance of Kubrick's 'cinematic coldness' at work, leaving the viewer with mixed feelings about the lead character, Alex, and his actions. Mainly, is he worse than the society which he inhabits?

Alex Delarge (Malcom McDowell) is the teenage leader of a gang in dystopic London, going around with his "droogs" at night, dining on "milk plus" at the Korova Milk Bar, and engaging in "a bit of ultra-violence", which includes beating up the homeless, breaking into houses, and raping women. After getting caught and serving a stint in prison, Alex is selected by the Minister of the Interior for experimental treatment with aversion therapy.

In a way, A Clockwork Orange, feels like an experiment in aversion therapy, which Kubrick has purposely let fail, with the shocking violence not actually forcing an opinion on the audience, but encouraging further thought. It's also a continuation of Kubrick's obsession with classical music, which he well-and-truly established in 2001. If anybody tells you that they find classical music "lame", show them a Kubrick movie.

WARNING: GRAPHIC SCENE from A Clockwork Orange

The Shining (1980):  

The Shining has always fascinated me, and is probably the first film that sparked my passion with both Kubrick, and films in general. Possibly his most 'mainstream' feature, it came about as a result of Barry Lyndon's box office failure, with Kubrick needing a 'safer' project for his next film. Yet it's actually very unique as a horror film, with it's unusually slow pacing much more effective in building a brooding sense of fear.

Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) is an amateur writer who takes his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) to the Overlook Hotel, where they serve as the caretakers during the harsh winter, when it is impossible for skiiers to reach the resort. After a while though, cabin-fever sets in, and Jack becomes psychotic, and the supernatural nature of the hotel drives Jack to attempt to murder his wife and child.

The effectiveness of The Shining lies in the suspense that Kubrick builds. Nicholson is capable of playing an incredibly creepy character, even when he's sane, so it's uncertain when he's actually going to snap. Again, this is Kubrick creating drawn-out scenes that leave the viewer in anticipation. Even the ominous opening credits are so palpable, with the eerily-beautiful helicopter tracking-shots.

The opening credits of The Shining

Hopefully, this has given you a sense of why Stanley Kubrick was, and is still, a world renowned director, and not only that, but is possibly the most unique filmmaker that has ever lived. But if you want more information, I would recommend checking out the documentary, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. Or, if you want to just bask in his films, check out this tribute.