Goin' to the movies with Knee: Part 1 - Barry Lyndon

**Knee of Justice** · 04-22-11, 12:02 AM

This movie has a bad habit of being excruciatingly long and boring. To make it worse, it's about history. Basically it's about an Irishman named Barry who falls in love with his cousin. They are happily together until she friend zones him and agrees to marry a British army general to pay off her family's debt. Barry challenges the British army general to a duel and "kills" him. "Kills" is in quotation marks because Barry shot the British general with a fake bullet, as it is later revealed. So he goes home and says goodbye to his mom, then goes into hiding. Actually, he doesn't really go into hiding, he goes off and gets robbed five minutes later. With no money left, he decides to join the British army. Keep in mind that this is a Kubrick film, so this is probably already about six hours in, I lost count after the eighth minute of nothing but landscape and a wide-angle view of a horse's ass as it carries Barry away.

This movie isn't terrible, but man is it boring. Basically nothing happens, Barry just goes from place to place for the next three hours. Don't believe me? Watch it for yourself. It's like a sanity test. Luckily, there was enough cleavage to keep me interested, but I honestly would have never finished this film if it wasn't the review chosen for this week.

Barry Lyndon: 1/5

**bobbarkerissatan** · 04-22-11, 12:07 AM

And they say the children are our future.

**Viktor_Olin** · 04-22-11, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by bobbarkerissatan

And they say the children are our future.

And we're doomed.

**Toad** · 04-22-11, 08:53 AM

**Thorsen** · 04-22-11, 08:58 AM

Hahaha I actually thought the review was pretty funny.

**dex71** · 04-22-11, 09:04 AM

LOL.....Nice Knee.

Can't wait to miss this one.

And Stanley Kubrick is the most over-rated director this side of Quentin Tarantino. Artsy for the sake of being artsy.

**Viktor_Olin** · 04-22-11, 10:53 AM

Kubrick probably is overrated. "Eyes Wide Shut" certainly deserves to be forgotten. Blech.

Barry Lyndon, however, is a film that has stuck with me for many, many years. It certainly wasn't the story or the acting (Ryan O'Neal, for God's sake?!?!). For me, it IS the art: visual and auditory. That movie started a life-long interest in Irish music, as well as an appreciation for cinematography as an art form. This was one of the first films that, for me, highlighted the scientific side of film-making (interestingly, 2001: A Space Odyssey was the other; Kubrick, again). I remember very little about the story in Barry Lyndon; I am still struck, years later, by the incredible low light photography Kubrick captured and the effort he went to to make that possible: Untitled Document

Don't get the impression that I'm some kind of artsy cinema snob; far from it. But I can appreciate when serious effort is expended to bring something to the screen that has never been accomplished before. Barry Lyndon did that.

And now, for your listening pleasure (the song was featured in the film):

**AetheLove** · 04-22-11, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by dex71

LOL.....Nice Knee.

Can't wait to miss this one.

Yeah. I liked it well enough, but it seems to be pretty obviously an acquired taste. I thought many of the scenes were absolutely gorgeous. The low natural lighting in some scenes makes them look like paintings. In fact, a lot of the movie seems to me like cinema versions of paintings from that period.

But I already like history and art. I've gone to museums to see exhibitions of landscapes. And enjoyed it.

I like many David Lean movies for much the same reason. There's a lot going on - a lot of story telling - in the images by themselves.

I have a similar relationship to Shakespeare. The plays I had to read in jr. high and high school were miserable experiences. But as a senior I was stuck needing to fulfil a requirement and the only class that fit my schedule was a Shakespeare class. It was taught by an actual Shakespeare scholar. I was prepared for the worst, but it was great. He started with poetry from that era, and he taught us how to read it. It was like learning a new language. After that, the plays were fun.

I think Barry Lyndon is like that. Unless you speak the language, it's boring.

Originally Posted by dex71

And Stanley Kubrick is the most over-rated director this side of Quentin Tarantino. Artsy for the sake of being artsy.

Gotta disagree with ya on this one. I think he's more than earned his rep. Consider these four films:

Paths of Glory
Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining

Each very different in many ways, and each of them great. Also, I think they hold up over time. Paths of Glory is from 1957 (way older than me, and I'm guessing everyone else here) and it's not only watchable today, but still relevant.

The Shining is a freakin' Stephen King story. How many bad movies have been drawn from that well? But even if you look at it as just another horror film, it's among the best ever. It's also beautifully shot, and deeply layered with all that artsy crap. There is rich symbolism throughout, but the film works even if you don't notice it. The Shining is entertaining even if you don't speak the language.

You might not like his stuff (and Barry Lyndon takes a lot of work to like), but I don't see how Kubrick is even a little overrated.

Cheers,

AetheLove