Could it be the person's flaw becomes the artist's flaw?
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Kubrick started as a photo-journalist, no? I see him as trying to present this disinterested gaze on the scene, no moral judgement or subjective viewpoint. Just the cold facts. But that doesn't really work. You can drain away the morality, I guess, but it's still a point of view. And it's not realism, anyway. Nearly all his films seem to take place in some weird alternate universe. And he dicks around with the audience plenty. I'm not sure what rules he's playing by, but it seems like cheating. Gotta say, most of his flicks leave a bad taste in my mouth.
And nearly all of them are a tad boring. Most could lose 15, 20 minutes pretty comfortably. An 85-minutes Eyes Wide Shut might really be something exciting. Hell, you could cut Shining down to an absolutely thrilling one hour. Maybe pick up the pace on Strangelove to make it actually funny.
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