herbiehancock

No 52 – The Shining Director – Stanley Kubrick It is hard to describe quite what it is that makes The Shining such a visually incredible film. As the film begins we’re greeted by breathtaking vistas as a camera flies over Jack Torrence’s car, driving down narrow winding roads. It isn ’t the first time I’ ve seen this film, and it certainly isn ’t the first time I’ ve seen helicopter shots over vast landscapes, but yet… it is still wonderful to look at and it still takes my breath away. The single take tracking shots continue throughout the film, usually following Danny on his tricycle as he makes his way through the Overlook hotel. However, where the initial helicopter shots show vast isolated landscapes, the shots in the hotel feel cramped and claustrophobic. This is Kubrick’s great skill – although congratulations also have to go to – he creates scenes in vast open hallways and they become just as tense and claustrophobic as the scenes in the narrow corridors of the hotel or the he...

No 37 - A Clockwork Orange Director - Stanley Kubrick It took me years before I realised that my first experience with this controversial masterpiece was through the introduction of Conker's Bad Fur Day . Which lifts the introduction to A Clockwork Orange perfectly. Even in my youth I knew it was a parody. I just didn't know what of... The important thing about this film is not to focus on the rape and the death and the violence. Whilst they are all there, in quantity, the film is far richer than that. The world is far richer than that and the story is far more bleak. The film is set in a strange future, or maybe an alternate present. The clothes are all a bit strange and the in house design is all a bit weird. We see this mostly with Alex (our protagonist)'s parents an his home. There are clashing colours and retro-futuristic furniture. Think Barbarella. That is the style of Alex's home. You can hear the other worldliness in the way that the characters speak. This i...