STANLEY KUBRICK RANKED (PART TWO)

Welcome back to my ranking of all of Stanley Kubrick's feature films! If you're after an introduction to this list, go back and read part one, because we're just going to dive straight in. And this is not only incredibly difficult, but intensely subjective, because at this point in the list we are in classics territory. Any one of these films could be at the top of someone else's list, and I wouldn't have a problem with any of them. It's rare that a filmmaker has this consistently made stone cold classics, so let's celebrate the ones that we've got.

6. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Full Metal Jacket was an important moment for me in my development as a person trying to understand films. I knew who Kubrick was, and I'd seen a few of his films already, but I actually approached Full Metal Jacket for the first time as a Vietnam War film as part of my studies in high school. As a ploy to pass off watching films as "study" I found a list of all the greatest Vietnam War films and decided to try and watch as many of them as possible instead of reading my textbooks. This is where I came across a few other classic films for the first time - Apocalypse Now, Platoon and The Deer Hunter stand out to me - but none of these confronted me in the same way that Full Metal Jacket did. In fact, I kind of hated it. Or at least, I didn't like the way that it was making me feel, and I was aware of the fact that the film was working well enough to elicit that strong of an emotional reaction from me. The reason I site this film as important for me, is that it is a film that contributed to my expanding vocabulary and palate for films that don't necessarily want to make you feel a certain way that can be easily explained and printed on the back of a DVD. It was way too emotionally complex for my 16-year-old brain, and so I have a huge soft spot for it and love revisiting it. I mean, it's a classic if only for the first third of the film alone.

5. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

I'm going to be that guy; I think I prefer the book. That's not to say that I don't love the film, because I do. It's a staple of '70s cinema. But it doesn't quite hold up for me in the same way that the rest of the films in this half of the list do. The book is a key text for me, and has been for a long time - it resonates with me in the way that you hope good literature can achieve. It is life-affirming to me in practical ways and artistic ways. And credit where it's due, the film does for the most part capture the essence of the book. But I do think it drags in its third act, where in the novel the third act is a breathless race to the finish line that feels almost inevitable. But enough criticism - this film is a goddamn classic, and deserves the tag of masterpiece (even if I don't subscribe to that theory myself). The production design is striking and iconic, the characters are totally unforgettable, and it is a film that broke so many boundaries and paved the way for more transgressive and extreme cinema to come as the '70s progressed. Similar to Full Metal Jacket, though, it doesn't quite resonate with me on a personal level in the same way that the next four film do.

4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Dr. Strangelove is one of the Kubrick films that I came to last, and I instantly regretted not seeking it out sooner. While Kubrick isn't totally alien to comedy (both Lolita and Barry Lyndon dabble), Dr. Strangelove stands out amongst Kubrick's films as being perhaps the only outright comedy. And it is so damn funny - funny in a way that leaves me now laughing at the film before the jokes even arrive in anticipation of the punchline. I laugh at moments that aren't even necessarily attempting to be big comedy moments. I laugh even just at the prospect that this is a Stanley Kubrick film, and he is a talented enough director and filmmaker that he is able to shift across to comedy so effortlessly. Peter Sellers sits at the centre of this film with his three performances, all equally as side-splitting but for totally different reasons. For me, it is probably the most quotable comedy of the 1960s, and I can put this film on whenever I want and instantly feel better, regardless of what shitty mood I might be in. Oh, and do yourself a favour and pick up the Criterion Collection edition of the film. If you're a Kubrick nerd like I am, there is so much juicy stuff to dig into beyond the stunning restoration.

3. Paths of Glory (1957)

This is a film that I am constantly surprised to see so low on people's Kubrick lists. This is Kubrick fully formed. Complex and challenging characters wrestling with dense moral dilemmas, one point perspective, long tracking shots, iconic close-ups. It's all here, and in sharp focus for the very first time. Surprisingly for some, this is one of my most rewatched Kubrick films, and one of the Kubrick films that I think about the most. It is progressive in the way that it talks about war and the ethics of war, and bold enough to spend extended periods of time wrestling with the great hypocrisy and fallacy at the heart of all war, something many war films try to sidestep or only offer the audience a brief glance at. Of all the films in this half of the list, this is also probably the one that it most likely you haven't seen - do yourself a favour and seek it out, because it is one of the very best war films of the twentieth century.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

This isn't a new thing to say, and I'll probably cause a few eye-rolls by saying this, but until you see 2001: A Space Odyssey in a theatre, you haven't really seen it. And I can speak to this from experience. The first time I saw 2001 was while I was babysitting, in the living room of the home I was babysitting in. I had bought the Blu-ray, and I was excited to finally sit down and take in what I was told to be one of the great science fictions film of all time in one go, the way it was intended. I was 15. Almost from the very first frame of the film, I didn't get it. Not only that, but I was aware of the fact that there was something going on with the film that I just wasn't registering. There was a layer of subtext that I couldn't quite become privy too, and that frustrated me. But I stuck it out, and watched all of 2001, ultimately none the wiser once the credits rolled as to why this was seen as one of the best film of all time. I watched it again a number of times over the years, just to try and check in and see if it would click with me. It never did. Last year, however, I went to see it with a group of friends at the Orpheum Picture Palace in Sydney on a 70mm print, and it blew me away. It was like watching an entirely different film. I had seen it before a number of times, I could quote lines back to you, I could talk about the groundbreaking technical qualities of the filmmaking, but what I couldn't understand until that night was the monolithic (pun fully intended) nature of the film; the way that it overwhelms the viewer and assaults the senses with more than it is programmed to handle. I had also never quite realised just how frightening 2001 can be - there are moments in the film that play with perspective and point of view that reminded me an awful lot of the tricks Kubrick would later play on audiences with The Shining. But ultimately it was the complete unknowability of the film, the completely impenetrable mystery at its heart, that I found completely compelling for the first time. It takes science fiction seriously, and uses it as a vehicle for huge ideas that are large enough to wrestle with for the rest of your life after you see the film. If you haven't seen it on the big screen, you now have homework to do.

1. The Shining (1980)

This may not come as any surprise to anyone familiar with this blog, but even just purely based on the number of rewatches I have put these films through over the years, The Shining is the clear winner for me. I don't want to spoil too much of my in-depth thoughts about the film and its place in my development as a young creative, because I am going to be diving into The Shining for the very first episode of my new podcast, coming in October. What I will say about The Shining is that it is one of very few films that hold up for me under intense scrutiny and analysis in a fundamental way that is key for my continued enjoyment of films - I still don't know what this film is about. At the heart of this film there is a frightening and endless mystery that I only get glimpses of every time I rewatch the film. And I have watched it everywhere - by myself, with friends, with my partner, at the back of a geography classroom in highschool, in a crowded theatre, on a VHS tape at a sleepover party when I was way too young - I have experienced the film in almost as many ways as is possible. Every single time I put it back on I am completely riveted by the absolute unknowability of the horror and mystery of the Overlook Hotel. The world that Kubrick created from the Stephen King blueprint is one that continues to be inspiring and creatively rejuvenating for me, and I never get tired of showing it to people for the first time. That's why it is my favourite Stanley Kubrick film.

And there we have it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on my ranking - what do you disagree with? What's your favourite Kubrick film? Let me know below, and I'll be sure to respond and keep the conversations about film moving. I'll see you next time, thanks for reading!

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