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Clearly, The Memorably Vivid Images He Created Are Those Of A Superb ...

Clearly, the memorably vivid images he created are those of a superb craftsman; sadly, they tend to shout rather than speak, so that the overall exact meaning of his films often lacks subtly and clarity. (Andrew, 1999:114)
Kubrick's next movie (released in 1975) was an adaptation of W.M. Thackaray's novel ‘Barry Lyndon' and it saw him return to the idea of shooting a film on location. This decision was partly influenced by his vastly elevated cultural status in Hollywood, which permitted him the authority to choose where to set the film and partly by the historical context of the novel, which was set in eighteenth century rural England. This move to location filming did not affect the preparation of Kubrick the auteur as he once again took control of every aspect of filming, from the choice of actors to the inspection of the historical houses to the design of the costumes.
Barry Lyndon also offered Kubrick another change in so far as it afforded him the opportunity to once again transcend genre boundaries by moving from a movie set in the future to a film set firmly in the past: the change in subject matter could not possibly have been more pronounced. The manner in which the director handled this transition is a good indicator of how it is that Kubrick appears able to remain an auteur while simultaneously switching genres with each new film. Whilst the director uses music to chart the evolution of man in 2001: A Space Odyssey, he uses the landscape of rural England to evoke the great paintings of the period in Barry Lyndon in order to augment his own lack of experience of dealing first hand with a novel set in the past. In this way, Kubrick is able to bridge the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between (for instance) science fiction movies and films of a historical narrative.
Unsurprisingly, Kubrick's follow up to Barry Lyndon yet again saw him switch film-making personas to embrace the one specific genre that he had yet to fully embrace. Surprisingly, the genre in question was horror. One would assume that this would have been a natural genre for Kubrick to explore, especially considering his interest in the darker side of the human condition that leads men down paths of ruin that the audience can readily trace. Thus, the appeal of adapting Stephen King's short story, ‘The Shining' into a motion picture was that the author managed to successfully keep the reader guessing at the end of the book. Kubrick aimed to achieve just such a cinematic suspension of belief in his portrayal of The Shining (1980), which remains one of the very best (and most commercially successful) horror films ever made. Much of the residual impact behind the ongoing success of The Shining must - in the final analysis - go to the very small group of actors who comprised the cast.


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