A shorter one I’ve already seen (albeit without live music), and a longer one which I haven’t. Both are rather good.
Sherlock Jr
I found this one originally just on YouTube, and it was a great watch then. But nothing really compares to seeing a film at the cinema, especially an establishment like the Prince Charles Cinema, where the audience is on your side and laughing along with you. Not too much guffawing, mind you. As a humorous advert with Robert de Niro’s Max Cody informed us, it’s important not to laugh so hard that you disrupt everyone else’s viewing experience. It would’ve been nice if they’d included the Simpsons parody alongside it where Homer irritates Sideshow Bob with the same Cape Fear scenario, but hey, the message was loud and clear. Literally.
There’s something to be said for a bit of silence in film, and if you’ve been reading my blog a bit, you’ll know I’m a fan of it. And Buster Keaton’s a master of it. His physicality and deadpan expressions lead the whole narrative as he performs daring stunts with comedic heft. Watching The Fall Guy recently reminded me of just how great it is when actors perform their own stunts instead of going for some lazy CGI. That latter option’s rather lazy, or in the words of Patrick Star, pretty weeny. But yeah, watching Keaton doing all those actions, particularly when he dodges a wide variety of moving cars, makes you appreciate the virtues of physical comedy.
The live music playing alongside the film was a particular highlight, especially considering how the musician improvised the whole thing himself. That reminded me of studying German Expressionist film and how some musicians would work from the same sheet music, while others would refuse such conformity and go their own way. Intriguing stuff. A wholeheartedly fine experience.
Barry Lyndon
My Kubrick cannon still has some holes in it, so I thought I’d patch one of them up by watching this entry (that metaphor didn’t quite work, did it?). It’s still amazing to consider how many genres the director got through, and he plays around with the historical epic this time round, tracking the rise and fall of Ryan O’Neal’s eponymous rogue. That kind of trajectory reminded me of Lawrence of Arabia, another film I watched recently. Thought you should know.
It’s a decent bit longer than Sherlock Jr, coming in at over three hours, but, unlike Lawrence of Arabia, it earns that epic length. It’s got cynicism, splendour and a fair bit of light comedy too. Plus some nice classical music. Kubrick was apparently influenced by Sergio Leone’s technique of playing classic music during takes to put his actors in a better mood. Considering that Kubrick himself was put on an I.R.A. hit list when he initially tried filming the work in Ireland (the production subsequently moved to England), he was probably in need of that musical TLC too. Or maybe not. Maybe it just encouraged his Kubrickan propensity to do more and more takes and give more odd suggestions to his actors. Some of these included making Leon Vitali feel suitably nauseated for the final duel scene by eating a range of heavy ingredients (Kubrick was satisfied when Vital threw up after eating a raw egg), or suggesting that Ryan O’Neal should get his leg cut off during the final scenes when he has no leg. Ah, Kubrick. What a tease.
A Clockwork Orange remains my favourite Kubrick flick, but Barry Lyndon is nonetheless a compelling effort. Bravo.