Tag Archives: Eyes Wide Shut

Kubrick – Before and After

This video essay examines the films that influenced Stanley Kubrick (silent cinema, European arthouse, avant-garde etc.,) as well as the many films his work has since influenced.

357. The Shining

In adapting Stephen King’s best-seller, Stanley Kubrick drew on a genre other than horror and used a new motif that he would repeat for the rest of his career.

319. 2001: A Space Odyssey

For all its groundbreaking effects and narrative innovation, this owes a debt to a romantic fantasy and a Soviet propaganda film.

315. Letter from an Unknown Woman

Max Ophuls’ adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novella is more than a romance; it explores memory, delusion and the meaning of art.

292. La Ronde

Released in 1950, Max Ophuls’ adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s scandalous play is a landmark exhibition of theme and style operating in perfect harmony.

284. Belle de Jour

Long thought to be a satire on bourgeoise marriage, Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece is really a study of the traumas suffered by a sexual assault victim.

257. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

It is incorrectly assumed that Steven Spielberg turned Stanley Kubrick’s dark story into another of his child-friendly fantasies.

246. Dreams

If the dream sequence is a crutch for many dull thrillers, horrors and mysteries, what makes a good one? One that challenges and stretches cinematic language.

213. Cinema Sex

Orson Welles was one of cinema’s true geniuses but was he correct in claiming that two things cinema couldn’t honestly depict were prayer and sex?

207. Jerry Maguire

“Show me the money.” “Shut up, you had me at hello.” For such a quotable film, Jerry Maguire’s most important line is “Fewer clients. Less money.”

161. Dr. Strangelove

Until 1964, Stanley Kubrick had suffered years of set-backs, disappointments and frustration. But he made his reputation with this satire on nuclear war.


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