Pure cinema.

Rating: 6/10 (24 March 2004)

Kubrick's wicked masterpiece Clockwork Orange is pure cinema. Every scene is movie magic. The incredible thing about this movie is that thirty years after its controversial first release to widespread banning, provoking of gang violence, owing to which Kubrick decided to withdraw the film from release, it has lost none of its insane, shocking power. Watching Clockwork Orange, you one moment have fun with its wicked sense of humour, incredible invented dialect (taken from Anthony Burgess' hilarious, inventive novel), and the next moment feel sick to the stomach. The first time i saw it i was absolutely terrified. I felt terribly sick in the stomach. Now, of course, it feels slightly less like Satan damning me to hell (and i'm not religious!) and more like a delightfully cinematic, delightfully dark joke. Each time i see it, I further appreciate it: it's visually stunning, menacingly comic and unashamedly controversial and shocking (with a touch of the old social satire, my droogs). It gets in your face and there's no stopping it. Does it all mean something? Is this our future described? That's for you to decide. What's certain is that Clockwork Orange defies every law about movie making ever invented, and defies categorisation at every turn. Try and predict where its gonna take you next, or try and sum it up (which, you may notice, i've avoided doing), and you'll likely fall on your face.