MissSimonetta Stanley Kubrick is a cinematic god, up there with Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa as one of the greatest directors to have ever walked the planet. Made by his brother-in-law shortly after his sudden death at age 70, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) could have been quite sugary and light, with nothing but praise for the late filmmaker.While there is a lot of praise on display, the documentary does portray a more even-handed view of Kubrick. The man could be difficult to work with, a trait most acutely displayed in his appalling treatment of Shelley Duvall during the making of The Shining (1980). However, he could also be warm and generous. He was, in short, perfectly human. I did wish some of his other collaborators could have been interviewed, but I'm perfectly happy with who did appear. Kubrick's career is covered in great detail, with the film itself clocking in at almost two and a half hours. Kubrick fans will definitely be interested.

virek213 Hollywood has often had a difficult time dealing with ambiguity and enigmas. And there have been very few directors who define those terms much better than the late Stanley Kubrick. That aspect, and many others, are the focus of the incredible intriguing 2001 documentary STANLEY KUBRICK: A LIFE IN PICTURES, directed by Kubrick's brother-in-law (and frequent co-producer) Jan Harlan.In its 142-minute running time, the film, narrated by Tom Cruise, charts Kubrick's progress from his early days as a photographer in the Bronx to his earliest efforts at film-making (1953's FEAR AND DESIRE; 1955's KILLER'S KISS), and how each new film helped to revolutionize Hollywood at a time when the old studio system was now starting to crumble. But as even a successful big-budget effort like SPARTACUS shows, Kubrick was never one who could simply kowtow to the whims of studio executives. He needed complete creative control over every film he made from that point on, and he didn't feel that he could do that in Hollywood. In a radical move, he moved himself, his family, his life, and his work to England in 1960 and never set foot on American soil again, apart from a few scattered occasions. But he always considered himself an American filmmaker first and foremost.Beginning with LOLITA in 1962, and continuing right up to the last film, EYES WIDE SHUT, in 1999, Kubrick chose material and subject matter that most other directors would never have thought of touching with a barge pole. His way of doing films, a process that often took years on end (hence the relatively small number of films to his credit), was often seen as cold, clinical, and detached, which tended to rub critics the wrong way. On other occasions, however, his films were often controversial. LOLITA was considered quite scandalous because of its depiction of forbidden love. The reviews for 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY were initially extremely bad because of that film's revolutionary approach to science fiction. DOCTOR STRANGELOVE was frequently slammed for its savagely satirical approach to nuclear war and Cold War-era politics. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE spawned a firestorm because of its explicit and whimsical approach to sex, violence, and governmental brainwashing. And even THE SHINING, regarded as one of the great horror films of all times in most quarters now, still remains a bone of contention for others because of its ambiguities and the fact that it strayed so far from its Stephen King source material.But Kubrick remained largely above it all by being deeply committed to his family and friends, as this documentary also shows, utilizing film footage that the outside world had never seen up to that point. Kubrick rarely gave interviews; he was an intensely private man (though not at the Howard Hughes level like so many pundits might claim); and he could be extremely exacting with the actors he worked with (witness Shelley Duvall's own trauma on THE SHINING). Directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Alex Cox, and Woody Allen all share their impressions of Kubrick's cinematic mastery; while actors like Malcolm McDowell, Sir Peter Ustinov, Jack Nicholson, and Matthew Modine share their impressions of working so closely with the man.All of this adds up to a great film, one that can never answer all the questions about its subject simply because those questions may not have answers that will satisfy everyone, if anyone at all. But no matter how he was regarded by critics or audiences while he was alive, Stanley Kubrick remains one of the most important directors in cinematic history; and this documentary sets the case for that claim in solid stone.

radpix I find the fact Tom Cruise being chosen to do the narration was a terrible idea. Tom Cruise definitely did not help Kubrick's health with his awful acting in Eyes Wide Shut. Malcolm MCDowell would have been the best choice by far.... I mean come on. I found the documentary decent but anything on Kubrick I will watch with an open heart. I will miss his movies. Not many directors make a movie exclusively for sake of art, and the love of directing in general. A lot of people who I know have never seen Paths of Glory, which is a must see. The topic of war was really something that must of weighed strongly with Kubrick, given he made 4 movies about it. Sparticus would be another except for the fact Kubrick did it to save Kirk Douglas's production.

drosse67 I only have two problems with this otherwise fantastic documentary: Tom Cruise's narration and the fact that EVERYONE he worked with (actors, producers, studio heads) just praised and praised the man as a "difficult but genius" force. From what I've read, there are probably several hundred people who hated him when he was alive. He was especially cruel to Shelley Duvall, and I've read interviews with her when Kubrick was ALIVE, who said making The Shining was the worst experience of her life. Now, in this documentary, she talks about how she has absolutely no regrets, because it made her "smarter." Maybe so. But more than likely there would have been a completely different attitude if this documentary had been made while he was still alive. And Tom Cruise's narration--I kept hearing "I worked with the greatest director of all time on his last movie, so there!" in his self-important narration. Malcolm McDowell would have been a more appropriate choice, in my opinion, as the humble narrator. But all in all, this is an excellent examination of a brilliant mind, a trade photographer who made arguably the greatest string of films in the history of cinema, from Lolita to The Shining (at least in my humble opinion).