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Cracking the Kube: Solving the mysteries of Stanley Kubrick through archival research
390 pages, Hardcover
Published December 15, 2024
18 people want to read
About the author
Filippo Ulivieri
12 books8 followersBorn in 1977, Filippo Ulivieri is a writer and a teacher of film theory. He is the leading expert in Stanley Kubrick’s cinema in Italy with 15+ years of research on the subject: his features on the director’s career have appeared in several newspapers and magazines. Stanley Kubrick and Me has been published in Italy in 2012. He is co-scenarist of Alex Infascelli’s documentary S is for Stanley (2015).
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January 16, 2025Director David Fincher once remarked, "A movie is made for an audience and a film is made for both the audience and the filmmakers." I feel the distinction, to which I've long subscribed, underscores an ever-present tension between trifling diversion and weighty resonance; in other words, entertainment and something other. But what is that something other? I think a reference to architecture is apt here. If you visit Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower or the Egyptian pyramids (a limited sample for argumentation purposes), you're no doubt impressed by the scale, precision and majesty of what lies before you. However, applying a metric of entertainment or recreational value to such marvels of design and engineering feels so earthbound, reductive and wanting. The same applies to motion pictures and that's why I and many others love Stanley Kubrick.
For decades, the most involved study of Kubrick's work was limited to textual analysis and hermeneutics. Critics, film enthusiasts and fellow filmmakers could know the films backwards and forwards but struggle to find substantial insight about their creation and the creative process of the artist responsible. However, in the last decade or so, this has changed dramatically. Due to the Kubrick estate's donation of a massive trove of extant production material to a hosting university in London, a wealth of new understanding sits readily available for anyone interested in plumbing the depths of the infamous auteur's half-century-long filmmaking operation.
Ulivieri's book is the first published study of Kubrick based, in large part, on archival research. The collection of essays explores three fascinating and previously unexplored aspects of the filmmaker's career: his largely unknown quantity of unfinished projects (numbering over 80), a deliberate crafting of his image (and mythology) through strategic press and book publications and the nature of his collaborations with various co-writers. In all, the book is a must-read for any self-respecting fan of this legendary, one-of-a-kind filmmaker!
For decades, the most involved study of Kubrick's work was limited to textual analysis and hermeneutics. Critics, film enthusiasts and fellow filmmakers could know the films backwards and forwards but struggle to find substantial insight about their creation and the creative process of the artist responsible. However, in the last decade or so, this has changed dramatically. Due to the Kubrick estate's donation of a massive trove of extant production material to a hosting university in London, a wealth of new understanding sits readily available for anyone interested in plumbing the depths of the infamous auteur's half-century-long filmmaking operation.
Ulivieri's book is the first published study of Kubrick based, in large part, on archival research. The collection of essays explores three fascinating and previously unexplored aspects of the filmmaker's career: his largely unknown quantity of unfinished projects (numbering over 80), a deliberate crafting of his image (and mythology) through strategic press and book publications and the nature of his collaborations with various co-writers. In all, the book is a must-read for any self-respecting fan of this legendary, one-of-a-kind filmmaker!
February 20, 2025
As someone for whom Kubrick's films represent a kind of fixed stars in the cinematic universe and who has already read a lot about Kubrick, this was a truly insightful read.
The book consists mainly of pieces which have already been published before, but also some new ones. Although they touch on many subjects, there is one central theme that connects most of them – that Kubrick's image in popular culture – that of a misanthropic, half crazy hermit who controlled everyone and everything – has little foundation in reality. Ulivieri, who makes heavy use of archive material, traces the origin of what he calls the «Kubrick Mythology» and comes to a surprising conclusion: The mythology was at least partly a creation of Kubrick himself who not only wanted to have complete control over his movies, but also over his own image in order to publicise his movies better.
Obviously, this again reinforces the Kubrick Mythology to some degree; Kubrick is such a control freak that he even controls how he appears to the public – a fact of which Ulivieri is well aware. Still, it's interesting to see, that early on, Kubrick was very strategic when it came to present himself in a certain way in interviews and press releases, and that the image of a genius and control freak suited his needs quite well.
What I found particularly fascinating is that, according to Ulivieri, Kubrick's "PR campaign" also included how he was perceived in academia. One goal of the of the PR for 2001 was to elevate its director to a higher sphere of cinematic genius. To accomplish this, Kubrick closely collaborated with Alexander Walker who wrote the first monograph on the director and was arguably instrumental in turning Kubrick into an 'auteur'. At the same time, Kubrick blocked the publication of another, less referential book by Neil Hornick.
I don't think I've ever heard of another director doing this (certainly not as early as the late 1960s), and I think it adds another layer to the whole discussion about the 'auteur' (which is a problematic concept anyway).
«Cracking the Kube» also shows fandom it its best. Ulivieri is not an academic but a fan who has read everything related to Kubrick, talked to everyone who met him, and basically knows more about Kubrick than any living creature. Still, he is not a fanboy and also not into presenting sensational anecdotes. He is rather interested in how Kubrick worked, in his MO, and he backs up everything he writes with sources.
The book consists mainly of pieces which have already been published before, but also some new ones. Although they touch on many subjects, there is one central theme that connects most of them – that Kubrick's image in popular culture – that of a misanthropic, half crazy hermit who controlled everyone and everything – has little foundation in reality. Ulivieri, who makes heavy use of archive material, traces the origin of what he calls the «Kubrick Mythology» and comes to a surprising conclusion: The mythology was at least partly a creation of Kubrick himself who not only wanted to have complete control over his movies, but also over his own image in order to publicise his movies better.
Obviously, this again reinforces the Kubrick Mythology to some degree; Kubrick is such a control freak that he even controls how he appears to the public – a fact of which Ulivieri is well aware. Still, it's interesting to see, that early on, Kubrick was very strategic when it came to present himself in a certain way in interviews and press releases, and that the image of a genius and control freak suited his needs quite well.
What I found particularly fascinating is that, according to Ulivieri, Kubrick's "PR campaign" also included how he was perceived in academia. One goal of the of the PR for 2001 was to elevate its director to a higher sphere of cinematic genius. To accomplish this, Kubrick closely collaborated with Alexander Walker who wrote the first monograph on the director and was arguably instrumental in turning Kubrick into an 'auteur'. At the same time, Kubrick blocked the publication of another, less referential book by Neil Hornick.
I don't think I've ever heard of another director doing this (certainly not as early as the late 1960s), and I think it adds another layer to the whole discussion about the 'auteur' (which is a problematic concept anyway).
«Cracking the Kube» also shows fandom it its best. Ulivieri is not an academic but a fan who has read everything related to Kubrick, talked to everyone who met him, and basically knows more about Kubrick than any living creature. Still, he is not a fanboy and also not into presenting sensational anecdotes. He is rather interested in how Kubrick worked, in his MO, and he backs up everything he writes with sources.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews