Books on Kubrick

Started by for petes sake, August 15, 2004, 11:22:59 PM

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for petes sake


matt35mm

Just from the bits of review (which I find to be generally reliable, if the reviewer successfully justifies the rating), what I would do is go with the last one by Ciment.

Although, Amazon's got the deal where you can get Ciment's book and Stanley Kubrick by Stanley Kubrick (An Interview) for under 27 bucks.  That's a deal that I would consider, but if I was going to go for one, it'd be the Ciment book.

I haven't read any of them, however.

The Perineum Falcon


I've got this one. It's great. I found it kind of inspiring and very interesting. It's supposed to be the only book about him that Kubrick approved of... or something.
I haven't had a chance to read the last one, though I wanted it, badly.
We often went to the cinema, the screen would light up and we would tremble, but also, increasingly often, Madeleine and I were disappointed. The images had dated, they jittered, and Marilyn Monroe had gotten terribly old. We were sad, this wasn't the film we had dreamed of, this wasn't the total film that we all carried around inside us, this film that we would have wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we would have wanted to live.

rustinglass

I haven't read any of those but I've got th Kubrick TASCHEN book, and it's got great pictures... like this one

Peter Jackson totally ripped his style off Kubrick.
"In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don't have experience of the west, they even believe that western shit is pie."
-Emir Kusturica

Ghostboy



This one is great, but the Ciment one is, at the very least, it's equal. Get both and you'll be all set.

RegularKarate

"Eyes Wide Open" is a terrible book by an egotistical gold-digger.

Here's a summary:

"Kubrick tells me I'm a genius all the time.  I'm so GOOD at what I do and I do it so easily... praise me."

mogwai

Quote from: RegularKarate"Eyes Wide Open" is a terrible book by an egotistical gold-digger.
and that is frederic raphael.

Quote from: Christiane Kubrick"We wish it to be known that the publication of Frederic Raphael's book "Eyes Wide Open" is not and never has been endorsed in any way by Stanley Kubrick's family, those close to him or Warner Bros.

Mr. Raphael was engaged to write a screenplay, which he did in collaboration with Stanley who trusted him and (according to Mr. Raphael) confided in him. In violation of that trust and in breach of what would be regarded by many as a normal professional duty of confidence, Mr. Raphael announced the publication of his memoirs within days of Stanley's death. Mr. Raphael through his literary agent conveyed the false impression to at least one (and perhaps more) prospective publishers that his book was both authorised and welcomed by Stanley's family and friends. The timing of the publication of the book was clearly intended to take advantage of the publicity build up immediately prior to the opening of the Film "Eyes Wide Shut".

We believe that Mr. Raphael, whilst professing praise and a degree of affection for his subject, has in fact denigrated Stanley and unjustly caused pain to those who knew him well.

Whilst Mr Raphael knew and confirmed in his book that Stanley valued his privacy, he showed, by publishing his book, ostensibly in the interests of art, that he in fact has no respect for that privacy; Mr Raphael says in his book

"although I should never trade on it - we were now close friends." Whether or not they were "close friends", is one matter but, it will be for others to decided whether he has in fact traded on his relationship with Stanley.

Finally, insofar as this family is concerned, Mr. Raphael's analysis of Stanley's personality bears no relation to the man we knew and loved so well.

In making this public statement we know that we risk further publicising Mr. Raphael's book, but we feel we could not allow our silence to be understood as confirmation of his opinions and claims.

cowboykurtis

ive read the book -- i dont remember it slandering kubrick as a man -- recall it painted him as a demanding person in a work enviornment, nothing scathingly negative -- however this mr. rafael character is quite the peice of shit if he lied about the kubrick estate's endorsement in an attempt to profit on kubrick untimely death.
...your excuses are your own...

Pubrick

i wish i could get my money back for that eyes wide open book. don't waste ur time on that shit, anyone.
under the paving stones.

Ghostboy

Nah, I think it's worth reading...it's fascinating, although not always in the way the author probably intended. Here's what I wrote about it at the time I read it:

Although its subtitle is A Memoir Of Stanley Kubrick, I think it is more about its author than the director: Raphael seems at least somewhat instigated by a bit of artistic pride, a need to let people know that there's some of him in there, too, and that the problems one might find in the finished product aren't necessarily his fault (he refrains from commenting on the movie). The best part about the book is that, as much as he takes steps to demythicize Kubrick, he ultimately fails, and knows it. The frustration of working for a genius is outweighed by the fact that he worked for him at all.

I recall at the time it was published that the Kubrick estate was mainly insensed about the slight suggestion of antisemitism in the text. I do think that releasing the book so close to his death was in bad taste; but that's capitalism for you, everyone turns into a bastard. Anyway, I think the book is valuable for Kubrick completists.

RegularKarate

Quote from: Pubricki wish i could get my money back for that eyes wide open book. don't waste ur time on that shit, anyone.

I'm with Pubes here, don't give that shitter any money.  You can't trust the crap he lays in that book and it's just no-good.

No value in this book... If you find a copy for free... read it so you can see how full of it he is, but for Crissake, don't PAY for it.

Fernando

Quote from: Pubricki wish i could get my money back for that eyes wide open book. don't waste ur time on that shit, anyone.

Quote from: RegularKarateYou can't trust the crap he lays in that book and it's just no-good.
If you find a copy for free... read it so you can see how full of it he is, but for Crissake, don't PAY for it.

Quote from: GhostboyI think the book is valuable for Kubrick completists.

All three have a point here, if you're an SK nut as I am you already read it, so you know there are some amusing 'tales' there, best line he wrote was 'Stanley Kubrick is not a genius who happens to be a filmmaker, he's a filmmaker who happens to be a genius', as for what P and RK said, it's true, you can't believe 90% of the things he wrote and the most annoying part is how he had to show he's an intellectual and so literate; I think he was extremely jealous of SK's intelligence, gave me the impression he wished was like him.

Fernando



I bought this book because P recommended it and I'm glad I did, it's a great little read and anyone should finish it in a couple of hours, this book is like a response to the Raphael book, a collection of Herr's memories with Stanley; he starts his book by saying 'Stanley Kubrick was a friend of mine, insofar ppl like Stanley had any friends and as there are any ppl like Stanly now.' Then he tells how he met him and all, I was surprised that he knew him since 1980 IIRC, so I do believe he really was a close friend and also made sense when in the doc. A Life in pic. close to the end he said 'how could anyone not miss him'. Besides a lot of praising that is found through out the book, he also admits SK was at times really difficult and a cheap prick, which having the kind of freedom SK had I don't see it as a bad thing, it makes sense he cared as much for his money as to Warner's.

Another thing that reinforced this book is the way and why I admire SK, seems to me that he was with no doubt the most intelligent person in the movie bussines, he absorved the knowledge of anyone that came near him so later he could use that information at will.

So if you like Kubrick and have $9.60 get it.

last days of gerry the elephant

I didn't see these being posted, so thought it may help;







--
Edit: Hmmm... Well in this specific thread I mean, but anyway I will also take the time to say that the book published by Taschen is a good one. & that is all.

squints

Quote from: musse on February 16, 2006, 04:33:24 PM
I didn't see these being posted, so thought it may help;

mostly because they each have their own thread
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche