About three years back, the Seoul Museum of Art hosted an
exhibition about movie director Tim Burton. Koreans that I thought had never heard
of Tim Burton suddenly got hyped. Instagram and Facebook accounts across the
country started to get littered with the wacky and colorful illustrations by
Burton. This year, the time has come for Stanley Kubrick to be the
well-deserved center of attention for the months to come.
If you have never heard of Stanley Kubrick, then I envy
you. You have so many journeys to travel on through Kubrick’s movies. A fan of
Interstellar? Watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. A fan of recent war movies? Watch
the movie that defined one branch of the genre – Full Metal Jacket. A fan of
dark comedies? Watch Dr. Strangelove and be struck in awe regarding the fact
that it was produced in the beginning phase of the Cold War. Finally, a fan of
thrillers? Watch The Shining and let Jack Nicholson visit you in your
nightmares.
Kubrick was not only a director, he was also a photographer. This is a fact that becomes blatantly evident at the exhibition when you see the technological prowess needed to record scenes such as the “Star Gate”-scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The montage looks magnificent even by today’s standards, even though the movie was recorded almost 50 years ago.
It is also an eerie feeling to stand face-to-“face” with
HAL 9000, the primary antagonist from the aforementioned movie. However, I am a
man who hates spoilers and who has been shunning Facebook as soon as Star Wars: Episode VII was released, so I will not go into further detail here about HAL 9000.
Kubrick’s films have been considered by some to be “among
the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century”. I
strongly recommend both his movies and this exhibition. Do not be taken back by
the fact that his first major film was produced all the way back in 1956. These
are more or less timeless classics that demand your attention even 60 years
later.
