Barry Lyndon

“Barry had his faults, but none could say of him that he was not a good and tender father. He loved his son with blind impartiality. He denied the boy nothing. It is impossible to convey what high hopes Barry had for young Bryan, or how he indulged in a thousand fond anticipations of the boy's future success and figure in the world. But Fate had determined that Barry should leave none of his race behind him... that he should finish his life poor, lonely, and childless.” I think this might be a new 4 star favorite… What a totally beautiful and masterful film. A film where every shot looks like it came out of a 1700’s European painting. A film where you are just watching the journey of Redmond Barry, go from a nobody soldier to a Lord with exceptionally high agency, who calls himself Barry Lyndon. This was my 5th Kubrick, and damn is he good. Almost all of his films that I have seen have been really intriguing from the start and I feel will hold up better in rewatch, this being no different. Yes it’s 3 hours, but it’s a calm, quiet and interesting with a protagonist who you become very fascinated with from the start. Now the cinematography… Holy shit. This film probably has some of the best shots I’ve ever seen in a movie. As I said before, this film’s shots were straight out of a painting. You can pause at anytime, and I guarantee you, you are going to get a frame worthy shot that will look exponential on your home walls. Especially that one shot, the scene about right after the funeral of his youngest son, with him sitting all drowsy, one of my new favorite shots in cinema. ITS RIGHT OUT OF A DAMN PAINTING. I learned right before I watched this that Kubrick actually use natural light for his source of light in this film, and what a fucking great idea that was. It captured the different scenes perfectly and actually set the tone for a 18th century character study film. The use of natural daylight and candlelight was portrayed and executed perfectly and I’m surprised I don’t see any other films use that technique. Overall, what a film this was. Because this WAS a film. A new timeless classic that, again, is shooting straight up into my top 4. This month has been amazing so far in what I’ve watched. What I’m talking about is that I, including this one, have watched 4 new 5 star films, with this one definitely being a perfect score. 100/100 for 5 stars **January ranked**