Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and cinematographer, who lived in England during most of the last forty years of his career. He was known as a perfectionist as he put vast amounts of care and precision into his films. The vast majority of his films were nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTA awards. Early in his film career, he moved to England which is where he got the majority of his work done. Some of his most famous films include:
A Clockwork Orange
Kubrick only had a small budget to make this film but he created a hybrid thriller - sci fi film. The film is an exploration of violence and experimental rehabilitation by law enforcement authorities. The film contains lots of violence and received criticism for this although Kubrick defended this saying that the gang violence was crucial to the moral dilemma of the film. Due to this it became one of the most controversial films of the decade.
The plot of the film involves a teenage boy called Alex who commits horrific crimes including robbery, murder and rape. When gets arrested he gets a 14 year prison sentence. He is then subject to government program which brainwashes him, he now loses all his old violent traits and is released from prison where he does not commit crimes but when he is repeatedly beaten up by old enemies he realises he is now also defenseless. The government scheme has turned him into a vegetable. He tries to kill himself and fails to do so. The government are critisized and reverse the effects of the program.
The camera movement that is used is typical of the thriller genre as there are many tracking and panning shots.The camera angles used are also quite commonly used in other thriller films as a high angle is used to show those that are in power.
The Killing
The Killing is a fictional story about a racetrack robbery gone wrong. The plot involves lots of crime which is often the basis of a thriller plot. The killing was Kubrick's first full length feature film shot with a full cast and crew. The film was not a financial success but received some good reviews.
