Barry Lyndon

It's as beautiful and pretty as everyone says, probably even more beautiful than you could even put into words. My reaction to each shot of this film would be equivalent to seeing all of Leonardo da Vinci's work throughout his years of artistic painting in one full sitting. Stanley Kubrick you will always be in the back of mind when it comes to the way you shoot these films. What caught my eye with this Kubrick film is how uniquely he portrays Redmon Barry Lyndon in this project, Barry isn't a traditional hero but neither is he a flat out villain. He's more like a survivor or an opportunist who is mostly driven by an enormous amount of pride and a deep desire for societal acceptance that he never truly achieves. His relationships aren't genuine or loving in the slightest, they're transactional. His "love" for Lady Lyndon is more about securing his position rather than being honest and graceful, then the affection he shows his son. While seemingly being genuine it's stained with Barry's strong desire to secure his lineage and legacy. His complexity as a character makes him so compelling, and yet we find ourselves not particularly not liking our main character. But Stanley wanted this, he doesn't ask us to sympathize with Barry in the typical way we should, instead he want's us to truly observe him. Treating him like a case study in human nature and the societal structures of the era, while we dive deep into the story Kubrick wanted us to witness. I really loved the narrator aspect Stanley implemented into this film as well, it's not just a voice for a summary or to tell parts of the story that are unseen. He uses it to remove the suspense and instead let's us focus our attention on HOW Barry arrives at these points and how the societal forces are at play in these moments. It's also sort of like a ironic commentary on his life, often foreshadowing future events and revealing Barry's fate long before it happens. Leaving us to question the idea of destiny or just how unsuccessful the human ambition can be against the environment in a indifferent world. Sort of hinting that he knew how this story was going to end long before it started. The 1975 Oscar Best Picture awards should have honestly been the only ever time where everyone nominated should have won, because my goodness they're all arguably still considered masterpieces! Please let me discover whatever Spielberg, Kubrick, Forman, Lumet, and Altman were doing back then.