Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze: A Book Review

It takes the eyes of a film scholar to navigate through the imagination of Stanley Kubrick. Nelson is just this scholar and provides not only an insightful overview of Kubrick's career, but also a deep analysis of his selected masterpieces.

Though Nelson states that Kubrick was not an "autobiographical," {pg.31}, director, such as Fellini, the material he chose for his films tracks an intellectual development. Through placing Kubrick's films in a personal context and a cultural context, Nelson explores why the director chose certain material for personal themes. One of these themes is Kubrick's ability to convey "humanity's love affair with its own technological systems and creations, as in films such as Dr. Strangelove, 2001, and A Clockwork Orange. Nelson does not ignore that Kubrick's thematic interests were as diverse as they come as often as they crossed paths in his films.

Inside A Film Artist's Maze displays the complexity in trying to understand the scope and vision of each film from start to finish. As is often said about the director, Nelson portrays Kubrick as an enigmatic figure in film history. Enigmatic being the word Nelson uses to describe Kubrick's taste in literature. After reading the dissection of each film, one is convinced that Kubrick changed viewers' expectations in adapting the narrative of literature to film. This is seen especially in the chapters on his films, Barry Lyndon and The Shinning, which presented Kubrick with particular challenges in adapting the narrative's point of view.

Nelson's exegesis unravels Kubrick's qualities as an epistemologist and satirist. Also as a director in complete creative control of his vision through relating techniques used in camera movement, editing, and sound. Nelson also reveals the other trivial staples that Kubrick placed in his films such as the use of the Ludovico name in Barry Lyndon and A Clockwork Orange. The book completely decodes the films even in their minor bits of humor that confirm Kubrick as a satirist.

Overall this book serves to add layers to the acclaim of a great director. In reading other titles such as, Kubrick: Seven Films Analyzed and Kubrick: The Art of Adaptation, Nelson's work comes ahead as a definitive viewing companion.

Films by Stanley Kubrick included in Kubrick: Inside A Film Artist's Maze.
Fear and Desire
Paths of Glory
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shinning
Full Metal Jacket
Eye's Wide Shut

More on Stanley Kubrick on Associated Content. An Analysis of Background Movement, Symmetry in Full Metal Jacket, by Jason Cangialosi