SCFZ poll: Stanley Kubrick

[flip]

Polling the films of director Stanley Kubrick

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Kubrick films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: brian d, greennui, ofrene, kanafani, bure, greg x, oscarwerner, silga

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut
The Killing
2001
Dr Strangelove

been years since i've seen any of these

[...]

2001: a Space Odyssey
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Eyes Wide Shut
Barry Lyndon
Lolita

[oscarwerner]

Seen 12.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Barry Lyndon (1975)
3. The Killing (1956)
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
5. The Shining (1980)

[greennui]

Barry Lyndon
The Shining

Seen 11, all of them years and years ago, so some are very much in need of a rewatch (2001, A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut and so forth).

[DT.]

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Barry Lyndon
4. The Shining
5. A Clockwork Orange

[kanafani]

Barry Lyndon
Eyes Wide Shut
Full Metal Jacket
2001: A Space Odyssey
Dr. Strangelove

[flip]

DT - you can pick our next director if you want!

[Silga]

Seen 10:

2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining
Paths of Glory
The Killing
Lolita

[DT.]

DT - you can pick our next director if you want!

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

[brian d]

seen 11

spartacus
the shining
barry lyndon
dr strangelove
paths of glory

[mesnalty]

Seen 11:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Paths of Glory
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Barry London
5. Dr. Strangelove

[ofrene]

Seen 8

1. Barry Lyndon
2. Dr. Strangelove
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. 2001 : A Space Odyssey

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 9, most of them I don't like nearly as much as their reputation.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3. Eyes Wide Shut

[thoxans]

barry lyndon
eyes wide shut
paths of glory
full metal jacket
the shining

*seen twelve

[Zulawski]

Surprisingly little love for Clockwork.

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. 2001
3. Barry Lyndon

[...]

11 Apichatpongs, would like to see them all, didn't realize he had 69! listed on Letterboxd. Lot's of short films still to see!

[kanafani]

I got 11 Apichatpongs as well

[Roscoe]

BARRY LYNDON
THE SHINING
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
DR. STRANGELOVE
EYES WIDE SHUT

That last spot might change. To CLOCKWORK or not to CLOCKWORK?

[thoxans]

not

[...]

It'll be interesting to see how Kubrick's reputation changes, or doesn't, over time. He's one of the few directors who virtually everyone can recognize as a master of his craft, few control the camera better, but his manner of control is so overwhelming that it has a feeling of authoritarian aesthetic to it, which is something that isn't finding as much favor in recent years for its tendency towards association with other, increasingly less acceptable types of control. Kubrick's themes go right to the heart of that conflict, with his camera essentially enacting its dominance on his characters in a manner equivalent to the social structures in the stories. It's a very "masculine", not meaning male necessarily, aesthetic that has a purpose within the movies, but has also been called into question as a way of seeing/creating for reinforcing patterns of control even as the films may appear to question control the characters are faced with. There's an inherent contradiction there, surely known to Kubrick, that was, and still is by some, considered the epitome of the form, but now has more detractors, as if there's been a switch from seeing the movie as a movie to now seeing the movie as representation of something else.

This same kind of thing is happening in the other arts as well, with artists like Picasso, for just one example, coming under increasing scrutiny in how their work shows its "meaning" and who the person was who made it becoming as important as its place in art history and formal invention. Kubrick, and Picasso for that matter, aren't going to disappear by any means, but their place, at least for the moment, is shifting. (None of that is to suggest Kubrick was anything like the shit Picasso was as a person, just that the formal representation has some notable similarity in how it's been received.)

[wba2]

But Kubrick and his films also have much humor and irony and are extremely self-reflexive.
I guess, when people aren't as stuck-up anymore and appreciate the absurdity and mocking humor in Kubrick more than they do now (and learn not to take the human species too seriously - same as Kubrick's films), I'd guess his reputation will rise again. His films are very complex, and I'd say most of that hasn't been properly appreciated, yet.

In part, I think, this can be seen in his outright comedies/satires, evolving from Dr. Strangelove to A Clockwork Orange to Full Metal Jacket, with Dr. Strangelove (the simplest and most banal) being still the most popular, Clockwork still being his most controversial film (a pity...), and Full Metal Jacket usually not even being recognized as a comedy (let alone a satire). As I said, people are generally too stuck-up and and "proud" of this planet, our culture, and it's "achievements", something Kubrick was mocking and sending up constantly (see also: Lolita, 2001, Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut, Shining, where all (especially male)the protagonists are pathetic and pitiful and cannot achieve jack shit).

He was also one of the fiercest (if not the fiercest) critics of "male" patriarchy, at least as far as male filmmakers are concerned, so I can see his reputation in this regard only to be rising and rising and rising.

But of course, if clueless male viewers think that the clueless male protagonists of almost all of Kubrick's films are fine with them, not much will "change". Looking into a mirror still requires the person to look, to change. Accusing the mirror of what it is showing seems somehwat stupid.

Anyway, I'd guess we here at this forum can at least agree that Kubrick was the male (mainstream) filmmaker who was the fiercest and most explicit at criticising our terrible "civillization" during the 20th century, no matter if we like his work, or if we don't.

PS: he's also the first filmmaker I think of, when I think of the currently hip term "toxic masculinity" (a term I usually can't stand). But this term fits perfectly when it comes to all(!!) feature films made by Kubrick.

I mean, his asshole male protagonists aren't merely pathetic (e.g. in Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, Shining, Barry Lyndon, Clockwork Orange, 2001, Lolita, The Killing, Killer's Kiss) but mostly detestable (see at least Eyes Wde Shut, Full Metal Jacket, Shining, Barry Lyndon, 2001, and Lolita).
And when they are resembling (or trying to resemble) something honorable, they are still part of the system (and the problem), and are ineffective in bringing about change - as in Paths of Glory.
I'm excluding Spartacus here, for which he was merely a gun-for-hire, and which he obviously didn't have much fun or interest in while directing.

[wba2]

01. Barry Lyndon (1975)
02. 2001 (1968)
03. Paths of Glory (1957)
04. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
05. The Shining (1980)

Kubrick seen: 13

[wba2]

got only 4 Apichatpongs but I loooove 3 of them.

The last one I saw was actually UNCLE BOONMEE at the cinema in 2010...
Boy I need to see more of his films asap!!!

[---]

Seen 15, all in theatres. Other than seeing clockwork as a teenager I've never watched Kubrick off the big screen and never will. Of his 13 features I gave seven 4.5/5 but none 5/5. Stan is known around my condo complex as "the 4.5/5 king"

Eyes Wide Shut
Barry Lyndon
The Killing
2001
The Shining

[arkheia]

Seen 16 Kubrick... and 16 Apichatpong Weerasethakul, funny coincidence.

1. Barry Lyndon
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey

[Senor Arkadin]

Seen 7 Kubrick
1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Clockwork Orange
3. Dr. Strangelove
I guess I prefer Kubrick the Comedian. I have a strong sense that I would like Barry Lyndon. If I get a chance to check it out before this ends, I'll update as necessary.

[Caracortada]

Seen 11

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Lolita
5. Spartacus

[john ryan]

Seen 12
1. eyes wide shut
2. dr. strangelove
3. barry lyndon
4. paths of glory
5. the killing

[rischka]

who??

oh wait i HAVE seen some of his films. i'll go with

strangelove
lolita
barry lyndon
the killing
the shining

i don't remember 2001 and have promised to watch it again someday meanwhile i only got one apichatpong