Kubrick by Kubrick (2020)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Kubrick by Kubrick (2020) – G. Monro

This documentary is entirely based on archival audio recordings of Stanley Kubrick being interviewed by French critic Michel Ciment -- with some extra video footage from other sources (and clips from the films, of course) garnishing the central find. In between, we find ourselves in the 18^th century room at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, where director Gregory Monro has added film posters or occasionally an old TV (showing the archival footage).  Each major film gets only 10 or so minutes of discussion, so expect at most some interesting trivia, if not some amazingly revelatory comments.  That said, there are still enough insights into Kubrick’s way of working and his philosophy about filmmaking to make this worth a look for the director’s fans.  For example, he speaks of the importance of his training in photography to his art. He discusses how difficult the work is, if you want to get it right (and others testify to his exacting perfectionist style, including Sterling Hayden, Jack Nicholson). He talks about the necessity of conflict for a screenplay as a reflection on why he made so many war films. Ciment concludes that Kubrick was more of an 18^th century artist, although I am still pondering on this.