The work of Stanley Kubrick has been the subject of countless theses, video essays, supercuts, and every kind of examination you can think up. Anyone and everyone interested in cinema has studied the auteur in some capacity, and, no matter readily or begrudgingly, has seen the unwavering hand of his craft hard at work. The evidence is, of course, the endless nuggets Kubrick left behind for us to mull over and decode — a process we’re still very much in the throes of a decade-and-a-half after his passing.
This new video essay explores the visual tenacity of Kubrick’s work, his love of the close-up and circles, his framing — which evolved over the course of his career, but nonetheless started nearly perfect — and the similarities of his characters, men and women alienated and broken by a world they trusted. There, beneath it all, in most of his films, is the sense of utter tragedy. Even in the most satirical and the most out and out genre, “Dr. Strangelove Or: How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb” and “The Shining” respectively, the tragedy is palpable, crushingly human, and, as could only be in Kubrick’s hands, handled with care and tenderness.
READ MORE: Video Essay Explores Differing Visions for ‘2001’
Featuring clips from each of Kubrick’s films from after 1956, the year of “The Killing,” and propelled by Schubert’s “Piano Trio in E Flat” and Radiohead’s “Codex,” this short supercut focuses on the quiet, the moments of threshold, the calm before the storm.
Check out the video below. If you’re looking for something a bit more substantial, check out this 3-hour video essay that explores Kubrick’s films and career.