| Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" Screens Again at Walter Reade |
Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick made a name for himself in cinema by subverting expectations; 1975's "Barry Lyndon" avoided many of the critics' barbs but failed badly at the box office.  "Barry Lyndon" was based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "The Luck of Barry Lyndon."  Ryan O'Neal plays the rogue Redmond Barry, who remakes himself with the title Barry Lyndon.  Kubrick's lush visuals were restored by his protege Leon Vitali for the Walter Reade's weekend replay of "Barry Lyndon." Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray Starring Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Marie Kean, Leon Vitali Walter Reade Theater West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues May 27–29 filmlinc.com Rarely did a director divide filmgoers and critics as much as Stanley Kubrick. “Dr. Strangelove” is acerbically funny or simply a sick joke; “2001: A Space Odyssey” is visionary or merely pretentious; “A Clockwork Orange” is revolutionary or just exploitative; “The Shining” is harrowing or boring; “Full Metal Jacket” is hellishly original or another routine war movie; and “Eyes Wide Shut” is a disturbing dream or a slow-moving viewers’ nightmare. Then there’s “Barry Lyndon,” which will be shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in a restored 35mm internegative print—which has been timed and color-corrected under the supervision of Kubrick’s long-time assistant Leon Vitali, who will also be present at the Walter Reade Theater for several screenings—from May 27 through 29. When “Barry Lyndon” was first released as one of the big year-end Oscar contenders in December 1975, it made the cover of "Time" magazine (with the prescient headline, “Kubrick’s Grandest Gamble”) and received respectful, even rapturous reviews from some critics, but failed badly at the box office. Three hours long, “Barry Lyndon” never caught on with moviegoers. Furthermore, though "Lyndon" received seven Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director and Screenplay, it won only four richly deserved technical awards. Perhaps audiences and some reviewers thought that “Barry Lyndon” would be similar to “Tom Jones,” filled with rollicking, bawdy humor. Instead, Kubrick's adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s 19th century novel “The Luck of Barry Lyndon,” created a cool, detached, and yet still witty version of a narrative that was originally written in a jesting, satiric tone. Thackeray follows Redmond Barry, an 18th century Irish rogue who earns the title Barry Lyndon after wooing and winning a young rich widow. Although Barry is an unreliable anti-hero, Thackeray lets him narrate his own story, simultaneously making the reader commiserate–if not outright sympathize–with him as well as follow the author’s finely-tuned irony, which bubbles under the surface of Barry’s self-serving narration. The dry humor throughout Thackeray’s novel is also present in Kubrick’s film, yet it’s so subtle as to be missed by many. For instance, Kubrick banishes Barry’s first-person voice for an omniscient narrator (Michael Hordern) whose own descriptions and observations often have a wry tone similar to the novel’s. The opening sequence, which brilliantly introduces the world of Barry’s rise and subsequent fall, dispatches with his father in startling fashion, helped by Hordern’s ironic, measured intonation. “Barry Lyndon’s” coolly detached tone is not that far from Thackeray’s own distancing effect (Barry’s unreliable narration), but since there are no ripped bodices or frenzied scenes of people gorging on food as a prelude to sex, many have written the film off as merely “beautiful,” transforming its more obvious pleasures—visually splendid, panoramic vistas; eye-popping costumes and sets; sequences shot by glowing candlelight; eclectic classical score—into faults. Kubrick’s adherence to a rigidly symmetrical formal structure, both visually and narratively—title cards for Part I, Part II and the Epilogue; many slow camera zooms; several elegant, painterly groupings of characters within landscapes; doubling motifs of rituals such as dueling and card-playing—underlines the contradictions and hypocrisies of both Barry and the era he inhabits. In the process, “Barry Lyndon” becomes a remarkably varied and unforgettable portrait of an historical era that’s unlike any ever shown onscreen. The brilliance of “Barry Lyndon” is best appreciated on the big screen—not even your 60" flatscreen plasma TV—so hurry to the Walter Reade Theater to see one of Kubrick’s most audacious and original creations as it was meant to be seen. {mos_ri}
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