Review of Lolita (1962) by Michael O — 06 Jun 2010
For ages I've preached that a film owes only spiritual fealty to its novel but does not owe it everything. A film is a film and a novel is a novel and as trite as that sounds it's simply the way things are.
Being able to see this movie, despite my love for dear Nabokov's marvelous book, and to discover this time around a Kubrick with heart and soul allows me to love this adaptation enthusiastically. The movie does carry the dark humor and the twisted sexual obsession while adding its own silly plot twists along the way but it never throws out its ideas or resorts to smut: it's a film with restraint and we should be so glad.
Like great horror the best scares are what's left to our imaginations and like a great magician Kubrick allows his actors to let our brains run wild. As an actor's director this might be Kubrick's finest hour (next to 'Strangelove') and while his film doesn't touch the hem of the novel's garment it's still a joy to see.
This review of Lolita (1962) was written by Michael O on 06 Jun 2010.
Lolita has generally received very positive reviews.
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