Review of Barry Lyndon (1975) by Ashley H — 23 Feb 2016

Ok, i've watched Barry Lyndon just now, my thoughts:

I have to say, the whole setting the movie is in, and the time and place it is set, is something I am not interested in at all, it reminds me of my horrible days in history class, the poch people, large dresses, neat wiggs, luxe paintings, silverware, things like that, that's extremely uninteresting to me.

(Little nitpicking here: I thought Kubrick overused the zoom-out camera technique, and narration a tad-bit too much for my liking).

BUT, I can't possibly deny that Barry Lyndon isnt a grand scale masterpiece, because it most definitely is.

What a magnificent, mesmeric slow dance it is, not merely of death but of an ambitious man's inexorable decline.

Famed for his perfectionism, I thought the story was fantastically written (as always), the acting was sometimes a little wooden IMO, but most cast members gave everything they could.

The movie had special and tender, but also powerful and emotional scenes, something I always like, the music was spot-on pitch perfect for the timeframe it is set (and I always have a weak spot for pan flute music), and as you, and many others said, the cinematography and the composition of shots were magnificent.

Kubrick went to extraordinary lengths to research and recreate the look of the period, taking inspiration from the era's great visual stylists, painters such as Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth.

Even though I dislike the whole time period it is set in, and everything around it, Kubrick managed to make it interesting and superb.

Kubricks love letter to good old 18th century England.