I watched \u201cBarry Lyndon\u201d for the first time last night.\u00a0 I read that it was one of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s masterpieces.\u00a0 And I do respect Kubrick\u2019s art.\u00a0 But after watching it I realize that a masterpiece can be terrible entertainment.<\/p>\n
(Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)<\/strong><\/p>\n The movie is the story of the career of Redmond Barry an Irish man who allowed his passions to dictate his fate to a degree that is painful to watch.\u00a0 He gets into a duel over a girl (his cousin) and this forces him to flee his home to avoid legal prosecution and then he joins the British Army during the Seven Years\u2019 War and by deserting his service he ends up in the Prussian Army and after that he becomes first a spy and then a crooked gambler.\u00a0 And finally, he marries a rich English widow and attempts to become part of the nobility.\u00a0 And while attempting this he allows his philandering to alienate his wife and step-son and eventually lands him in a duel with this step-son in which Redmond loses a leg.\u00a0 Along the way his wife presents him with a son of his own and the little boy is tragically killed in a riding accident.\u00a0 He ends his life in exile returning to Europe to attempt to live off his ability to cheat at cards.<\/p>\n If this sounds like a ridiculous plot for a movie, it\u2019s because, it is!<\/p>\n Ryan O\u2019Neal plays Redmond and Kubrick directs the film as a straightforward narrative with very little dialog and only a few scenes that provide much in the way of emotional discovery.\u00a0 What this movie provides is cinematography.\u00a0 Beautiful landscapes, remarkable palaces and estates, perfectly lighted and photographed interior shots; all of the products of a master cinematographer.\u00a0 As a photographer myself I can appreciate the care with which the shots were set up and displayed for the viewer.\u00a0 And the costumes and battle scenes and rural settings are amazing.\u00a0 But that\u2019s all you get.\u00a0 The story moves forward at a glacial pace and there really isn\u2019t anyone in the story (except the six-year-old little boy who dies) that you care about at all.\u00a0 Redmond himself is a selfish, dishonest man.\u00a0 And he is surrounded with mostly the same kinds of people.\u00a0 Who can I recommend this movie to?\u00a0 I guess photographers, cinematographers and diehard fans of Stanley Kubrick.\u00a0 It\u2019s just too slow and empty and bleak for a general audience.\u00a0 It\u2019s visually beautiful and emotionally empty.\u00a0 Sorry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I watched \u201cBarry Lyndon\u201d for the first time last night.\u00a0 I read that it was one of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s masterpieces.\u00a0 And I do respect Kubrick\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[43,38,1355,5044,697],"class_list":["post-35007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-ryan-oneal","tag-stanley-kubrick"],"yoast_head":"\n