We are here for one more look at the career of Stanley Kubrick. With his films now accounted for, there are a few odds and ends to talk about. First, we need to discuss a project Kubrick worked on for years that close friend Steven Spielberg finished. Then we have a couple of documentaries covering the life and work of Kubrick. Finally, a perspective on why I feel Stanley Kubrick is so inspirational.
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A.I. Artificial Intelligence

A.I. has a long, strange history. Basically it is a Kubrick idea that was going to be his next film. He had the idea during the 1970's, but he held back doing the film because of the 'primitive' computer graphics at the time. Therefore, it was in developmental hell for many years. Eventually Kubrick asked Stevenn Spielberg to direct it. In essence, he would produce the film while Spielberg would direct the script Kubrick was supervising. Sadly, in 1999 Kubrick passed away suddenly. Spielberg wanted to do justice to the idea, so he took over the production of the film and in 2001, the film was released.

There is a lot of debate about whether this is truly a Kubrick film or a Spielberg film. Spielberg actually directed it, but a good amount of Kubrick's ideas and plotting made it into the film. Most of the plot is from the original screenplay and Spielberg only added slight touches and the infamous 'happy' ending. To me, I think that this is a Kubrick film through and through. Yes there are slight changes to Kubrick's original vision, but it's amazing how closely Spielberg adhered to the original vision. It feels like ninety eight percent of this is Kubrick's and the rest is Spielberg's. There is a fantastic production book out called 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg: The Vision Behind the Film' by Chris Baker and a slew of editors. It provides great insight into how the film was made and just how much Kubrick did bring to the film.

Enough about who did what, is the film worth watching? Well I'll say this; it definitely would  be a better send off than Eyes Wide Shut for Kubrick. It's a great idea and is executed beautifully. This is one of the best looking films of the decade, at least in my eyes. It's amazing how it's only the early part of the decade, but the CGI is excellent. Technology has evolved, but this still looks like a film that was made recently. The setting, the robots used, and everything in between looks fantastic. From the scrap yard of Flesh Fair to the decadent Rogue City, each setting looks unique and sets the relevant mood for each scene. Kubrick had a knack of telling us what the future holds for us, like he did in 2001. This is close to the future I see for us. We may not have as many cyborgs running around, but I believe we will have futuristic cities and the enviromental problems Earth faces. The message is clear: Humanity is screwed and they will die off. Sort of like the message with The Matrix, but there is no 'The One' to save everyine.

The acting in this film is pretty good too. However, I think it gets a bit overshadowed by the fantastic visuals. Haley Joel Osment shows that he wasn't a one hit wonder with the Sixth Sense. Sure his future work hasn't panned out (and that's putting it nicely) but at the time he was a great child actor and this film shows it. Then you have Frances O' Connor, Jude Law, William Hurt, Sam Robards, and the list goes on. Actually, I am not a huge fan of Jude Law, but, like with Cruise/Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut, I can say that he does a great job in this. Lots of cameos in this too, which is kind of weird for a Kubrick film.. Then again, that's probably the influence of Spielberg, because I'm pretty sure he didn't want Chris Rock or Robin Williams hogging the spotlight.

Maybe it's because I am a fan of Kubrick and science fiction films, but I have a fondness for this. Spielberg was able to keep in most of Kubrick's ideas and respected his wishes. Even with an ending that was clearly thought up by Spielberg, it is a fun film. This film also shows just how prepared Kubrick was going into the new millenium and how innovative he was still going as a filmmaker. It's such a shame that he had to go so quickly, because this film always leaves me wanting more.

Documentaries

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

This is a nice, very long documentary on the career of Kubrick. It basically goes from film to film spending fifteen minutes on each film. It covers the making of and the legacy of each film that Kubrick made. There are a ton of people in this sharing their memories of what Kubrick was like while working on his films. It also covers his personal life, as we get to see what type of family man he was outside of filmmaking. The soundtrack throughout the picture is the classical music used in each of his films. So if you want some nice music playing in the background, this is the documentary for you. It's interesting and engaging. It is also two and a half hours long, so, just like his films, a look at his life takes a while to watch.

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

This is one of the most bizarre documentaries I have ever seen. It is not a look into Kubrick's life or the films he made. Rather, it's about the boxes that are stored at his home. Not just any boxes mind you, literally hundreds of boxes with memorabilia and production material. If you know Kubrick you know how eccentric and how much of a perfectionist he was. The boxes contain a lot of his research. For example, in A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick wanted the gang to walk across gated communities, so he sent out his assistants to take a picture of every single gate in London. He then chose which to replicate for the scene. Dozens of boxes contained advertisements for his films in newspapers across the planet. From England to America to Japan, if there was a country promoting his films he knew exactly what paper it came from. There is a hilarious account of a trip to Spain with one of the newspaper companies which I will not spoil because it's so amusing. This documentary shows just how involved Kubrick was with each film and how dedicated he was to making each picture a classic.

Final Thoughts

I remember March 7th, 1999 very well. I was about to turn ten and we had just moved into our new house. Going downstairs I remembered my first memory that involved Stanley Kubrick: his death. Now, of course, I had no idea who the man was at the time. I was only ten and I wasn't a huge film freak that I am today. But the seeds were laid out when the reports of him passing away appeared. The news showed a montage of all of his work and I was deeply interested. Dr. Strangelove and 2001 looked bizarre to me, but in a good way. These weren't like any of the films I had watched before in my life and that strangely comforted me.

Here I am now, ten years later, and I cannot get enough of the man. It's so bizarre to me in a lot of ways because there is no other director that has influenced me like this before. Some of my other favorite directors (Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, and Quentin Tarantino) don't have the same impact on me as Kubrick did. I think it's because he did not make a bad film. Sure, some of his work is less then stellar (Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut) but they aren't bad films. A 'less then perfect' film by Kubrick is better then the majority of films out there. He has made some of the greatest films of all time and he did it like it was nothing.

This has been a retrospective I have been waiting to write for awhile. Murmur has given me an opportunity to show my love for my favorite director and I thank the creators/administrators of the site for letting them do this. I also thank everyone who has read these articles and I hope everyone will go out and watch Stanley Kubrick films. I know there will be someone on here that will have the same experience as I did when being introduced to the man and his work. I am very happy that I have my collection of his films to brighten my day.

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