Saying you like Kubrick is like saying you like the Beatles: who doesn’t?

Seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey again, I found myself transfixed by its artistry: the elegant camerawork, the lyrical editing, the exquisite use of visual metaphor.

LUST FOR ORDER: STANLEY KUBRICK BY GRAHAM DASELER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 27

In the pantheon of American film directors there is no one more slippery, no one more difficult to get a stable consensus on, than Stanley Kubrick. His fellow filmmakers adore him. He has been praised by, among others, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, Sydney Pollack, and Orson Welles, the last of whom spotted his talent early on. “Among those whom I would call ‘younger generation’ Kubrick appears to me to be a giant,” said Welles, in a 1964 interview with Cahiers du Cinema, adding: “His temperament comes close[st] to mine.” The comparison was, needless to say, meant as a compliment of the highest order. The critical world has generally been a bit more circumspect. Robert Brustein and James Naremore have written glowing…