Film Formalism

Stanley Kubrick as a Formalist Filmmaker

Table of Contents

1) Stanley Kubrick2) 2001: A Space Odyssey3) Barry Lyndon

Stanley Kubrick

• Kubrick as Auteur (who stamps unmistakable personality and vision on his/her films)

• Kubrick as formalist

Stanley Kubrick

• At the age of 16 his photos were published in the Look magazine. Employed as a photographer and contributed 600 photos to the magazine.

• His formative years

• Nurturing and demonstrating keen visual sense

Stanley Kubrick

• Kubrick’s first film• Self-financed short documentary,

Day of the Fight (1951)• Documentary on prizefighters • Look magazine photojournalism = documen

tary film • Capturing mood and atmosphere - the prim

ary aim of his documentary films

Stanley Kubrick

• Three documentary films (1951-2)• 13 feature films (1953-1999)• Fear and Desire (1953) the first feature - about

four soldiers trapped behind the enemy line and their escape is sidetracked by a woman and an enemy general.

Stanley Kubrick

• Killer’s Kiss (1955) - a prizefighter intervenes when a girl is assaulted by her employer/lover. This incident brings the two together and the fighter is threatened to be killed.

• The Killer (1956) getting out of prison, a man masterminds a race track heist but the scheme is complicated by various people.

Stanley Kubrick • Paths of Glory (1957) - the bureaucracy of the French army execute three of its soldiers on charges of cowardice.

• Though the narrative and the theme are simple, Kubrick manages to create powerful images by frequently using telephoto lenses.

• Spartacus (1960)

Stanley Kubrick

• Kubrick’s self-exile to England• Lolita (1962) - the first work of an auteur. C

ontroversial motif and his camera captures the danger and allure of lust. Kubrick discovered in this film Peter Sellers.

Stanley Kubrick

• Highly aesthetic composition• Eloquent photography• Powerful acting• Creative and masterful editing• Thought-provoking themes

• The deciding factor

Stanley Kubrick

• Dr. Strangelove: or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (1964) - Satire on the Cold War and the nuclear crisis

• Peter Sellers

Stanley Kubrick

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - SF film

Stanley Kubrick

• Clockwork Orange (1971) - Adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel; satire on violence (personal and public)

Stanley Kubrick

• Barry Lyndon (1974) - a history film or costume drama

Stanley Kubrick

• Shining (1980) - Horror film

Stanley Kubrick

• Full Metal Jacket (1987) - the training of Vietnam recruits and the corruption of the narrator in the war.

• Eyes Wide Shut (1999) -

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Made in 1968, a year after Bonnie and Clyde

• Took two and a half year and cost $10.5 million.

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Mythic vision of the relationship between man and machine

• Philosophical contemplation

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Audacious visual design and use of colours• Bold use of music, Richard Strauss’ Also Spr

ach Zaratustra

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Very bold Associative cut (graphic match)

• Ellipsis of several million years from the prehistoric age to 2001

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Simplified and geometrical set design and composition

• Juxtaposition of Johan Strauss’ Blue Danube and the floating space station

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Ridley Scott’s The Alien (1974)• Maze of corridors and cluttered lived-in spac

e of the spacecraft, Nostromo

2001: A Space Odyssey• In Section II a monolith

similar to the one which appeared in Section I is found.

• In Section III a battle between astronauts and the super computer, HAL.

• State of art composition and editing

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Section IV:

• The surviving astronaut’s hallucinatory trip through space and time

2001: A Space Odyssey

• The astronaut arrives as an old man in a white bedroom furnished in Louis XVI style.

• The final frame - his rebirth as embryonic Star-Child.

2001: A Space Odyssey

• Being enigmatic, mystical and sensuous, what is 2001: A Space Odyssey about?

• It resists interpretation.• The film is ‘… essentially a nonverbal ex

perience … It attempts to communicate more to the subconscious and the feelings than it does to the intellect.’ Stanley Kubrick

Barry Lyndon

• The film almost equal to 2001 in historical importance

• Historical drama made in 1975 and based on William Thackeray’s novel in the 19th century

Barry Lyndon

• Expressively lit and photographed• Most sensuous photography• Photographed by John Alcott, (Clockwork Orange

and Shining)