stanley kubrick retrospective. lacma.

if you are an avid reader of this blog (thank you if you actually exist!) then you know that i have spent the last couple of months checking out as many kubrick films as i could in preparation of this exhibit.  prior to this exhibit, i was a huge fan of "a clockwork orange" (i loved the book as a teen) and "full metal jacket", but after watching his catalogue, i became a fan of his work.  i did not see all of his films but luckily i did see the ones that were featured in this retrospective.

the retrospective covers his early career as a photographer, his films: the killing, paths of glory, spartacus, lolita, dr. strangelove, 2001: space odyssey, a clockwork orange, barry lyndon, the shining, full metal jacket, eyes wide shut, and the never made, aryan papers.  there was also a portion dedicated to the film A.I. which i skipped because i didn't see the film nor have a desire too.

as i watched and researched about kubrick's films, i learned that they were based on literary works.  as a result, there were so many amazing bookish pieces in the retrospective.

letters between vladimir nabokov, author of "lolita" and kubrick about the screenplay.

bookcase filled with books for research for "barry lyndon".  he really wanted it to be true to the era and did an extensive amount of research for it.

kubrick's copy of "the shining" filled with his notes.  these pages demonstrated kubrick's attention to detail, he had notes for the set based on the setting from the book.

the books that "full metal jacket" were based on.

i loved kubrick a little bit more based on his bookwormness.

here are some of my other favorite parts of the exhibit:

mitchell mbc camera.

i was so excited to see this camera.  i had read about it on wikipedia after watching "barry lyndon".  this camera was engineered by kubrick and his team, i am not sure how it works (they had some lenses from NASA) but i do know it resulted in a beautiful film.  all of those beautiful scenes lit by candlelight or daylight, all thanks to this camera.

continuing with the "barry lyndon" room:

a letter from audrey hepburn.  kubrick had asked her to be in "barry lyndon" but sadly she was unable to act in it.  marisa berenson ended up with role and was beautiful as lady lyndon.  my friend shawn pointed out the letter to me and we both decided that the film was better off without a big name like hepburn in it.

"a clockwork orange" was the first kubrick film i saw.  so was excited about all of the props from that film:

love the eyeball cuffs!!!!!

in the clockwork orange room, i attempted to give my friends, shawn and chrissie, a quick tidbit about kubrick's adaption of the novel but forgot how it went.  i googled to refresh my memory.  so here it goes:  kubrick's film omits the ending of the novel.  burgess had this whole theory about cycles and numbers and wrote the novel as three cycles of seven chapters.  however, american publishers did not think americans would buy the ending in which alex reforms of his own will, so they omitted it. the version that kubrick read was the american was so his adaption does not have the compete ending.

"the shining" room was seriously creepy with all of its props.  though i have to admit that i was disappointed that the big wheel was not in there.

if you read my shining post, you know i loved the fashion in it.  so was excited to see this:

dr. strangelove:

this picture is from a pie fight scene that was cut.  even though this photo is amazing, i do agree that the pie fight would have caused the film to lose some of its edge.

full metal jacket:

and last but not least, "eyes wide shut":

i also made some instavideoes which i will post later.

but as you can see the exhibit was amazing and i hope you were able to see it (if you live in la).

the shining.

we didn't watching scary movies growing up. so never saw "the shining" until i was in high school and caught half of it on ktla one sunday afternoon. but i still knew all of the pop cultural references from "the shining" ie redrum, scary twins, "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" and "here's johnny!!!" thanks in large part to that simpson's parody. so when i saw pictures of the twin's blue dresses at the lacma exhibit i figured i should finally give it a real watch and i did.

this movie is so freaking scary!!!! mind you, i knew how the story ends and i have seen all of the signature scenes and i was still scared. so scared that i kept lowering the volume and considered pausing the DVD because i didn't want to see what was going to happen next (and i knew what would happen next so there was really nothing to be afraid off.) i was relieved when danny covered his eyes during his second confrontation with the twins because i wanted to cover my eyes. lol. and i felt better knowing he was scared because to be honest his whole talking finger "tony" was creepy and if that creepy kid was scared than i shouldn't be embarrassed about my fear.

what made the movies so scary and suspenseful was the soundtrack. the music for the scenes were just too eerie. and kept me scared about what waited behind a door or down a hallway. also the lack of sound which reminded you just how empty the hotel was, like when jack was throwing the ball against the wall. one of the creepiest sounds was danny riding around on his big wheel, and when it went from carpeted sound to loud sound on the wooden floor. it was so scary because you knew those creepy twins were going to show up. (i hope the big wheel is on display at the lacma.)

wikipedia described this as psychological horror and that is the best way to describe it. it's not scary because things jump out at you but because it gets you thinking. you know what is going to happen and there is nothing you can do to stop it, you just have to watch it all go down. you know from the beginning during jack's interview with the story of the previous caretaker that the same fate is going to meet them. having this knowledge is what makes it torture to watch.

kubrick did a great job of building suspense and then cutting to random scenes. there were so many times that my heart was racing and then the next scene was "tuesday" and nothing more. and if you think about it other than the scenes of the twins hacked in the hallway, the creepy lady in room 237, and the killing of dick hallorann (which broke my heart when he died), there aren't many gory scenes. the scariest scenes are when you realize jack is going bat shit crazy. jack nicholson really did an amazing job, he was a cold hearted sociopath. when tells wendy, "i'm gonna not to hurt ya, i'm just going to bash your brains in", he said so matter of fact like it was a logical explanation (which it was in his twisted head). i also loved the scenes when wendy discovered his "writing" and i think what made it creepier was that the typing wasn't perfect but had typos and then when it was typed as if it was dialogue and paragraphs, it was like wow! he is insane!

and i remember jack's picture being in the 1921 photo from my first ktla watching of the movie. however, this time i interpreted the ending has jack being the reincarnation of the crazed caretaker. one reason being that jack told wendy how he felt like he was returning home when he first came to the hotel. and then jack's interaction with the ghost of the caretaker made it seem like his previous self was guiding him to repeat his fate. it seems far fetched but after looking on wikipedia, kubrick did mention that jack was a reincarnation.

regardless, of how you think the movie ends its still scary. and i will say one of the scariest movies according to me.

last but not least, i have to add what a fashion icon, shelley duvall was in this film! i wanted to wear everything she had one! the yellow native american jacket was my favorite! i loved the detail of brooch on her blazer when she first walked through the grounds. the purple coat she has on when jack screams at her was great. i also love her overall outfit too, i wish i could find a better pic but no luck. but so many cute outfits! i will have to copy some looks!