Review of Barry Lyndon (1975) by At S — 22 Apr 2009

This is the last of all the films kubrick made that I have seen. and what a way to end. it certainly has the qualities of a painter with very little of the sensibilities of the nature of the shots that kubrick used to fit the story being told. it is not triumphant nor is it outright depressing. it features, perhaps, more than any other film of his, that detachment that we have seen, at least on some level, in all his films. the look and feel is that of a romantic time and tone but the story is anything but. one can make the argument that it is an indictment of the aristocratic ideal which it is but it is not only that. barry is not so easy a character to pin down to being a cold-hearted slave to the bourgeois culture. though he may most often conform to that stereotype, he is still not defined by it. but the film still does not look favorably on his character.

It is a beautiful film, but not kubricks best. but anyone that knows anything about film knows that that means its still more than worth watching.