Stanley Kubrick's secret is out. Mad recluse? Control freak? Hardly the monstrous figure of popular tabloid lore, he was as much devoted to his family as his art, affectionate, and content to let his works be his public face. An intriguing portrait, and one painted by the illustrious likes of Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Woody Allen.
As "A.I." reaches cinemas, a suitably enigmatic and thought provoking postscript to the director's legendary career and cinematic contribution, a new documentary provides an intimate glimpse into the intensely creative world of the late director, who died in 1999, mere days after completing his final work, "Eyes Wide Shut".
"A Life in Pictures", directed by Kubrick's brother-in-law and long-time producer Jan Harlan, and featuring unprecedented access to Kubrick's private archives, the film underlines his inimitable accomplishments (Scorsese notes: "One of his pictures was the equivalent of ten of someone else's") while erasing the more unfair persona thrust upon him by an endlessly curious media.
Undeniably eccentric (he left extensive notes detailing his pet cats' behaviour and how to deal with them) his collaborators speak fondly of a man whose pushed them to their limits, but made them 'earn their pay cheques' - no-one more than himself.
Kubrick's unwavering devotion to his projects was also deeply emotional. The film details an unfinished project, "Aryan Papers", focusing on the Holocaust. Spielberg's "Schindler's List" was only half the reason the project was shelved. Kubrick's realisation that the horrors he researched could never be filmed caused him deep depression.
It seems inevitable that Kubrick's self-styled complexity defies suitable exploration, with Jack Nicholson proclaiming, "Everyone seems to acknowledge that he's The Man. I still feel that underrates him!" but with so much of Kubrick injected in to his films, "A Life in Pictures" ultimately proclaims that it is there that you'll find him.
"A Life In Pictures" in currently available on DVD.
- Read about the online mystery surrounding "A.I.".
- Do androids dream of being loved?
- Visit the .
- Film 2001 talked to Alan Cummings on Stanley Kubrick.
- Read the review of one of his most popular films, "2001: A Space Odyssey".
