Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" is being shown on the big screen at the MoMA this coming Saturday, January 7th, at 1pm--and ladies and gentlemen, I WILL BE THERE. Having seen all of Kubrick's movies dozens of times both on VHS and on DVD on the small screen, and having only seen two of his movies--"2001" and "Eyes Wide Shut"--in the theater (as, obviously, they were properly intended to be viewed), it's been a long time dream of mine that someone, somewhere, would do a proper film re-mastering and subsequent re-release of "Lyndon", even if only for a single viewing.
And this is it.
For those unfamiliar with the work (which, I imagine, is most of you--for shame), "Barry Lyndon" is about (let's see if we can compress the galaxy of themes it covers into two or three well-chosen sentences...) a dashing, strapping young lad, born into the lower classes (and rather socially dim-witted as a result), yet determined to improve his station in life by whatever means necessary--spying, dueling, gambling, seducing--whatever it may take, regardless of the consequences. He steadily climbs the social rungs, and, halfway through our story, meets the beautiful and wealthy Lady Lyndon. She falls in love with him, they marry, he inherits the title and fortune he's always dreamt of having--and then, naturally, he continues to push his luck even further (the hilariously ironic title of "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" was applied to the novel upon which our movie was based)--we see him spend mountains of money on lavish and ephemeral entertainments, run through a series of flagrant infidelities, all of it--and, ultimately, he ends up throwing it all away.
The cinematography, here, is breathtakingly beautiful--each shot is executed as if it we were viewing, not a film, but rather an 18th century landscape painting, with our characters acting as mere elements in a much larger and far more complicated frame ("mise-en-scene" in its most classic sense). The soundtrack--an extraordinarily carefully chosen set of classical pieces--works perfectly as well: much like our protagonist Barry Lyndon himself, each piece in the score tries too hard to be more than what it is, yet elicits our sympathy all the same (note the piece underlying the shot in which Barry and Lady Lyndon share their first kiss, for instance). The direction from Kubrick, as always, is brutally and perfectly honest: as an artist and a creator of worlds, he does not pass judgment on his characters, but rather presents them objectively and in the raw and then allows us, his audience, to make up our own minds. It's an approach that is as frustrating, really, as it is brilliant--but then, what worthwhile work of art has ever been any different?
One of the most under-appreciated masterpieces in the history of cinema. Playing at New York's Museum of Modern Art this Friday at 7:30pm and this Saturday at 1pm. Absolutely not to be missed.
