Compellingly odd but no longer so shocking

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2003)

Seeing it for the first time recently, I was drawn into this film (not knowing what it was at first, having missed the credits) because of the sheer visual impact of the set designs, and spent the next two hours wondering if it were intended to be futuristic, or contemporary to filming... and what all the fuss had been about. Sad to say, I am one year older than this film and the world is so changed that I doubt it would occasion much notice at an 'R' rating if released today. The storyline is well-crafted but not so unexpected to 21st century sensibilities, and the visuals, while explicit and occasionally deranged, aren't so unexpected to the student of the decorative arts circa 1970. And I've seen more violent cartoons.
That said, the film holds up surprisingly well, at once timeless and dated, the inflatable chairs of late-60's futurism now looking quaintly retro and Alex's rampage and treatment a flashback to the psychiatric and psychedelic better-living-through-chemicals belief systems prevalent in the same era. The very fact that one can remain in doubt as to the intended period for the duration of the film underscores Kubrick's unusual accomplishment. And accomplishment it is; I now see what it was that he may have been driving at with the disappointing 'Eyes Wide Shut', which shares similar themes of sexual alienation but has little of the charm of the earlier effort.
Kubrick's camerawork here surprised this jaded victim of '2001'; I see now where his legendary reputation came from, for the oddly claustrophobic expanses (if that makes sense!) and long static shots from unexpected angles contribute as much or even more than the set dressing to give this film its unified and unique visual signature. It still looks like an acid trip, as do most films of the period ('will act/write/direct for drugs' wasn't in retrospect a very good hiring criteria...), but this time it's the full-on bad flashback, not the funny-tasting colors of '2001' nor again the porcelain-worshiping comedown of 'Eyes'. This is one Kubrick film that one doesn't necessarily have to be stoned to appreciate.
Did I *like* it? Um, well, I'm not sure. And I think in a way that this IS the 'message' of the film; one is left at the end, wondering whom to root for and whether we ought to have watched that, and this can be taken as a comment equally valid for the perceived societal breakdowns of the late '60s. Thirty-odd years on, the elemental chaos glimpsed on the screen here turns out to have an oddly prescient ring to it while still remaining in and of its time... even if it was supposed to be 'futuristic'. I'm still confused. But it doesn't really matter; ultimately, 'A Clockwork Orange' hits a nerve so deep that the human animal can't help but twitch.