Film Formalism
Stanley Kubrick
as a Formalist Filmmaker
Table of Contents
1) Stanley Kubrick
2) 2001: A Space Odyssey
3) 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 photo was published in the
Look magazine. Employed as a photographer
and contributed 600 photos to the magazine.
• Formative years
• Keen visual sense
Stanley Kubrick
• Kubrick’s first film
• Self-financed short documentary, Day of the
Fight (1951)
• Documentary on prizefighters
• Look magazine photojournalism = documentary
film
• Capturing mood and atmosphere - the primary
aim of his documentary films
Stanley Kubrick
• Three documentary films (1951-2)
• 13 feature films (1953-1999)
• Fear and Desire (1953) - 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.
Controversial motif and his camera captures the
danger and allure of lust. Kubrick discovered in
this film Peter Sellers.
Stanley Kubrick
•
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Highly aesthetic composition
Eloquent photography
Powerful acting
Creative and masterful editing
Thought-provoking themes
Stanley Kubrick
• Lolita (1962) - Literary film; Adaptation of
Nobokov’s novel
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
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 Sprach
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
• David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Associative cut - geographical jump from the
headquarter of British Armies in Cairo to the
middle of the Arabian desert
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
space 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 StarChild.
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
experience … 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)
Stanley Kubrick
• Path of Glory (1957) (Anti-) war film