KUBRICK BY KUBRICK – A Review by John Strange
Stanley Kubrick was not like other filmmakers; his films were legendary, wild and imaginative. Gregory Monro brings us a documentary that investigates the director’s filmography, including films such as 1957s Paths of Glory and 1999s Eyes Wide Shut (which opened a few months after Kubrick’s death).
Gregory used snippets from each film discussed and the interviews with the actors recorded after each film debuted. These interviews include such film luminaries as Tom Cruise, Malcolm McDowell, Sterling Hayden, and Arthur C. Clarke. Michel Ciment, French film critic and reporter, is the main person interviewed due to his proximity to the auteur.
The film’s flow is fast-paced as they had a lot of ground to cover in a very short period of time. As they discussed each era in the man’s storied life, the camera worked its way through a diorama going from room to room, each complete with the film’s poster and iconic props.
It is amazing that Stanley Kubrick only made 16 films. And he seemed to prefer to stay close to home, shooting most of his films at a studio only nine miles from his home, the home where he edited those films.
The one quote from the film that truly grabbed my attention was from Michel Ciment: “Like any great filmmaker, he has a sense of space and time. You need to know how to compose the frame, it’s the art of photography. You need to know how to organize the narrative in a time frame, it’s the art of chess or jazz, as he also is a jazz drummer. Some filmmakers are patricians without having the sense of rhythm. Others have the sense of rhythm without being patricians, and the great filmmakers have both. He is defined by that.”
I loved this film. If you want to see Kubrick By Kubrick, it is playing in the virtual line-up from April 15th through the 29th at the Miami Jewish Film Festival (see the link below!).
Director: Gregory Monro
Cast: Stanley Kubrick, Michel Ciment, Malcolm McDowell, Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Sterling Hayden, Arthur C. Clarke
MPAA Rating: NR
Selig Rating: 5 Stars
Runtime: 73 Min.
Language: French and English
Trailer: KUBRICK BY KUBRICK Trailer
Virtual Screening: Miami Jewish Film Festival, 4/15 – 4/29/2021, https://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
4 Stars – Good movie
3 Stars – OK movie
2 Stars – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
1 Star – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn’t paid for it.
