Majestuous, epic, fully Kubrickian

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2014)

"Barry Lyndon" isn't as much a film as it is visual poetry. Generally I don't enjoy a "style over substance" approach to filmmaking, but "Barry Lyndon" is a movie that really shows what a genius Stanley Kubrick was. William Makepeace Thackeray's novel really isn't that fantastic, to me by far the weakest story Kubrick has ever adapted. But the imagery he gets out of it, all the shots that look like Renaissance paintings, the utter coldness (nobody has emotions until the last hour) with which he tells the story makes this a true classic. And then there's the other Kubrick trademark I adore: keeping the pace as low as possible without ever getting boring. The duels for instance take ages, but that's mainly because we're dealing with someone who knows what suspense is. Who minds that it takes the duelists roughly half an hour to cock a pistol, Kubrick knows he can take as long as he likes because you always want to know what happens next. The only thing that's kind of shame is that the studio forced him to hire Ryan O'Neal, who is wrong for the character and robs the movie of some of its incredible charm. If this had a better lead, it may have been the best film (Kubrick has) ever made.