★ 01/08/2024
Kolker and Abrams—film professors at the University of Maryland, College Park and Bangor University, respectively—follow up Eyes Wide Shut, their deep dive into Stanley Kubrick’s final film, with an authoritative portrait of the director, who died in 1999. Kolker and Abrams trace Kubrick’s pedantic working style to his days as a still photographer in his early 20s, when he “confidently ordered” such subjects as Miss America and then–Columbia University president Dwight Eisenhower “into positions that would provide the best compositions to get exactly what he wanted.” Charting Kubrick’s development as a filmmaker, the authors note that such stylistic hallmarks as a fondness for natural light and tracking shots can be observed in his early documentary shorts, Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, both released in 1951. Minor works, including Kubrick’s 1952 feature debut, Fear and Desire (which the authors regard as sophisticated if unrefined), are examined in equal depth to later classics. The portrayal that emerges is fascinating if unflattering; the authors cover the clash of egos between Kubrick and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke as they developed the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick’s willingness to subject A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell to excruciating pain to get believable shots, and the director’s cruel treatment of Shelley Duvall while filming The Shining. Filled with striking behind-the-scenes stories and elevated by a keen understanding of Kubrick’s style, this is a biography as monumental as its subject. (Feb.)
Kolker and Abrams have broken new ground and achieved what many of us thought was impossible. That of supplying us with absolutely everything one could ever want to know about Stanley Kubrick.
The spine of Kubrick: An Odyssey is his journey from oddball independent, funded by a pharmacist uncle, to oddball studio maverick with 'complete total final annihilating artistic control' (his words). Stanley lives on, his dreamlike hold unbroken.
"The filmmaker emerges from this biography as a contradictory and enigmatic man. Fanlike in their deep respect for his work, the authors describe his perfectionism in relentless detail. The biography celebrates its subject as a man who lived his life 'in the service of making great art,' whose films are 'cinematic masterpieces."
"[Kubrick: An Odyssey] aims to evaluate Kubrick in the round, weighing achievements against methods, and clearing away some of the apocryphal dead wood."
"In this wide-ranging new biography from Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams, Kubrick's life and work are explored through private documents and interviews with his friends and family to help tell the largely unknown story of a man whose work helped define our culture."
This thorough, detailed and fascinating biography should be commended for looking into areas of Kubrick’s personal and professional life that have never previously been discussed, as well as offering lucid critical commentary on his films, their themes and his reputation. Myths are debunked, and everyone from the Kubrick obsessive to the casual fan will be beguiled.
"Drawing on access to the Kubrick archive, Kolker and Abrams have unearthed some superb new facts about the director."
"In this wide-ranging new biography from Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams, Kubrick's life and work are explored through private documents and interviews with his friends and family to help tell the largely unknown story of a man whose work helped define our culture."
Praise for Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film:
"Kubrick challenged everything, but I loved that about him...in his mind, a film came down to how it was filmed, the cinematic look of the film, and it's what separated him from other directors and film makers."
"The book is an immaculately researched account of the film's creation."
"I'm not sure if it will spur Eyes Wide Shut haters to reevaluate the film, but Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film will give them some fresh insight into the seemingly impenetrable mind of Stanley Kubrick.
"With Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film, we finally have the great book this film deserves. Every chapter in this book is valuable to the Kubrick scholar or the casual cinephile; thoughtful yet readable throughout, it hits that golden spot of being a scholarly page-turner."
"Two leading Kubrick scholars have joined forces for this hugely impressive study of the filmmaker's final masterpiece. Examining the film from every conceivable angle, they offer unique insights into its form and themes—and also, more broadly, into Kubrick's working methods, his personality and his place in twentieth century culture.
"As recounted in a new book by Robert Kolker and Nathan Abrams—an essential resource for anyone interested in the film's development and production—Eyes Wide Shut was a project that Kubrick had been seriously contemplating for decades."
"Through obsessive research and details within details worthy of the man they chronicle in Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film, film scholars Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams prove decidedly that the last movie of a great film director not only sums up their career but defines and illuminates it with clarity. This is a must-read for admirers of Stanley Kubrick and his work and the cinema itself.
"Loved it. I thought I knew everything about Eyes Wide Shut but discovered much more. I think it's the most significant book on a single film since Stephen Bach's Final Cut."
12/01/2023
Kolker (emeritus, cinema studies, Univ. of Maryland) and Abrams (film, Bangor Univ.), coauthors of Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of his Final Film, craft this in-depth biography about filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (1928–99). In a conversational yet authoritative tone, the book delivers a vast amount of detail about every aspect of Kubrick's career, from his formative days as a Look magazine photographer, his early cinematic missteps, and his documentary shorts, to the years he devoted to unrealized projects—including Napoleon and A.I.—which are just as fascinating as the behind-the-scenes details of any of Kubrick's 13 completed feature films. Traditional biographical digressions into the filmmaker's personal life are rare and often provided only to contrast his work habits, deemed "obsessive" and presented as the book's throughline; his cinematic vision was ironclad, and his main creative fault was a tendency to control too much of the process. The book portrays Kubrick as being as difficult on set as other directors of his era who've been taken to task for such demanding behavior, but the authors offer no commentary about that. VERDICT An admiring look at a fascinating figure. Likely to be the definitive word on Kubrick for years to come.—Peter Thornell
2023-09-28
Though Stanley Kubrick and his body of work have been well documented, this book adds considerably to our knowledge of both the man and his masterpieces.
Kolker and Abrams, noted film scholars who previously collaborated on Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of His Final Film, examine all 13 of Kubrick's completed features, as well as many unfilmed projects, filling in the broad outlines of his life (1928-1999) based on interviews with family members and professional colleagues. The authors exhaustively catalog each film's planning, financing, production, editing, and critical and commercial reception. They highlight Kubrick's reimagining of such tried-and-true film genres as film noir (Killer's Kiss), heist films (The Killing), war movies (Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket), epics (Spartacus), love stories (Lolita), science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey), costume dramas (Barry Lyndon), and horror (The Shining). Notably, the authors place these films in the context of their times: 2001 as the emblematic film of the Space Age, Dr. Strangelove as the ultimate Cold War paranoid fantasia, and A Clockwork Orange as symptomatic of the 1970s age of anxiety. Kolker and Abrams register salient themes and motifs throughout Kubrick's oeuvre, pointing out trademark visual cues such as symmetrical composition and geometric patterning. The authors are especially good at showing how Kubrick's "confluent interests—sound and image—laid the foundation for a career that married both into films of exceptional power.” For example, they describe how "The Blue Danube" waltz, "Also Sprach Zarathustra," and Ligeti's otherworldly compositions helped make 2001 “a concerto for film images and orchestra," as one critic noted. The authors’ consideration of Kubrick's personal life is less detailed, as perhaps befits this "famously private family man.” But Kubrick left the world his remarkable, enduring films, and this volume pays homage to his considerable legacy.
A welcome new biography of a cinematic genius.
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