This probably won’t be a popular comment with a lot of STARBURST readers, but this writer has never understood why people rave about Kubrick’s movies. 2001 put me to sleep the first time I watched it and after several attempted viewings the only way I ever reached the ending was to break it up into twenty-minute chunks to relieve the boredom. Clockwork Orange… I don’t know what the fuss was about. The Shining? Even though I love a good ghost story, that one still tests my patience (but then so does Stephen King’s novel). And don’t even get me started on Eyes Wide Shut.
In fact, for me, Kubrick is all about Lolita and Barry Lyndon, both of which I think are excellent.
But I wanted to review Through a Different Lens because, even though I’m not a fan of the narratives of his movies, I’ve always considered Kubrick a visual genius. I just find his storytelling cold and emotionally unengaging.
And that’s one of the main reasons why this beautiful collection of photographs, bound together in a volume so heavy you could use it for weight training, is such a revelation. Because these are not behind-the-scenes images from Kubrick’s films, they are pictures he took when he was a young photojournalist for Life magazine between 1945 and 1950. And the revelation? Unlike his movies, many of these photographs genuinely seem to be more interested in their human subject than in showing off his technique. In fact, the distancing effect of his big screen repertoire is almost (but not quite) completely absent here.
From his very first published photograph of a dejected newsvendor surrounded by papers announcing Roosevelt’s death, to the little girl anxiously awaiting the dentist, to the couple sleeping in each other’s arms on the subway train, to the small boy posing on a rooftop, to the unknown actress drinking her coffee while staring wistfully off into the middle distance, Kubrick’s camera attaches to the human spirit in the most intriguing way. But his incipient filmmaker’s eye is here too, especially in the kinetic shots of a boxing match, a Broadway cast rehearsal, and behind-the-scenes life at Ringling Brothers circus.
Separated into yearly chapters and including insets of the actual magazine layouts as well as unpublished photos, Through a Different Lens is both a nostalgic treasure trove and a fascinating psychological study of a man who, as a filmmaker, was so notoriously private that very few people were allowed a glimpse into his psyche. I’d be surprised if even the densest biography of Kubrick could tell us as much about the man as is revealed within these pages.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Kubrick aficionado or simply somebody (like me) curious about what makes a visual magician like Stanley Kubrick tick; Through a Different Lens is worth adding to your coffee table collection (if you can afford it, because, like most art books, it comes with a hefty price tag). Just be careful if your coffee table’s made of glass, because it might fall through.
THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS – STANLEY KUBRICK PHOTOGRAPHS / AUTHOR: LUC SANTE, SEAN CORCORAN, DONALD ALBRECHT / PUBLISHER: TASCHEN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
