Masterpiece of Static Cinema...

Rating: 7/10 (10 September 2010)

As someone who's spent time laboring in the no-budget world of experimental film and video, I can appreciate A CLOCKWORK ORANGE on a purely technical level. By the same token, I recognize in it (and in most of what Kubrick did) an almost amateurish overindulgence. Being by nature a photographer, his emphasis was naturally on the Visual; characters were there to simply enhance the shots he set up. In A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, long static scenes unfold (one after another) as the camera sits and watches. This is a habit many low budget, indie filmmakers engage/indulge in: I've done it myself over the years. But it's a mistake when a paid professional does it because it results in what could best be called "motionless pictures." So intent is Kubrick on the Visual in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE that he never even bothers to explain the significance of the title. A small oversight, perhaps, but an oversight nonetheless.