1975 Directed by Stanley Kubrick
An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.
Ryan O'Neal Marisa Berenson Patrick Magee Hardy Krüger Diana Körner Gay Hamilton Frank Middlemass Arthur O'Sullivan Godfrey Quigley Leonard Rossiter Philip Stone Steven Berkoff Marie Kean Murray Melvin André Morell Leon Vitali Billy Boyle John Bindon Roger Booth Jonathan Cecil Peter Cellier Geoffrey Chater Anthony Dawes Patrick Dawson Bernard Hepton Anthony Herrick Barry Jackson Wolf Kahler Pat Laffan Show All…
乱世儿女, بری لیندون, バリー・リンドン, 巴里林登, 배리 린든
Epic history and literature War and historical adventure historical, royalty, sumptuous, lavish or drama historical, epic, battle, historic or fought shakespearean, kings, breathtaking, historical or battle marriage, emotion, romance, feelings or relationships nazi, war, wwii, hitler or jewish Show All…
Showed this to my mom today. She thinks 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most boring film of all time, she walked out of A Clockwork Orange and she never ceases to complain about every aspect in Dr. Strangelove.....
And yet, she was utterly entranced for every second of Barry Lyndon, laughing and crying along with the ravishing imagery and the remarkable storytelling.
Ladies and gentlemen, there's a Stanley Kubrick film for everyone.
Long movies scare me. Period pieces scare me. They are both things that I historically (haha get it because period piece) have not exactly found EASY to watch. They’re usually GREAT, but impatient people like myself have a hard time getting the energy to watch things like that. But I gotta say, despite that, I loved every second of Barry Lyndon.
letterboxd seems to be malfunctioning... i can't seem to be able to give this masterpiece more than 5 stars... wack
I was twigged to re-watch Barry Lyndon by some recent great reviews here. My personal goal for this viewing was to try to reconcile why Barry Lyndon works. Not as a masterpiece, but rather how it works at all. After all, it’s a 3 hour and 4 minute period piece based pretty literally on a 19th century text ... that stars Ryan O’Neil.
Cinematography. Let’s get this out of the way first. Kubrick’s ... er, John Alcott’s photography is breathtaking. As beautiful as the paintings of the period. The use of technical and cinematic technique is well covered by some other great reviews here on Letterboxd. Does it make the film work? I don’t think so. It contributes to it…
I maintain now and always that this is one of the great comedies, a slow burn of greed, cowardice and arrogance that depicts an aristocratic structure that creates arbitrary divisions among European nations united in the absurdity of their power hierarchies. The film suggests that the entire aristocracy of Europe is maintained by interbred families and brazen confidence tricks perpetuated by both pretenders and genuine members of the ruling class. Watching this, it's a wonder how WWI took as long as it did to break out. That it is one of the most rapturously photographed films ever made is almost a mere bonus.
"He wants to step into my shoes...
HE WANTS TO STEP INTO MY SHOES!"
Three hours of being absolutely fucking enthralled.
Why didn't anybody ever tell me how hilarious this movie is?
Ah, and I guess the cinematography was passable... haha.
In all seriousness though, this might be my favorite Kubrick next to 2001: A Space Odyssey. An altogether fun, enjoyable and immensely beautiful experience. An accurate aesthetic, a pitch perfect score, wonderful narration and the best performance of Ryan O'Neal's career contribute to making this an unforgettable masterpiece.
The Jerk (Dir. Carl Reiner, 1777)
Or: Been avoiding this movie for a decade because it had boring candle screenshots on IMDB and my friends in 9th grade told me it was slow, after we watched A Clockwork Orange at a sleepover. But nobody in my life ever took the time to tell me it’s hilarious. The hell? Why didn’t anybody tell me that. This shit was unfucking believable. Praise the Gods that I waited this long that I got to go see it all big at The Egyptian with a bunch of dorks and make me not hate LA for 5 hours. Wow!
Eighteenth century Europe was a brutal, violent, corrupt society with the thinnest patina of civilization. Aristocrats may have called themselves "gentlemen", but that was a cover for the greed, avarice and blood lust. Only an amoral fool would want any part of this, and that's what Barry Lyndon gives us, the story of an amoral fool who finds his place in the aristocracy because he, like them, is all vice and no virtue.
If that doesn't sound appealing to you, then you should at least consider that this is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, a rich tapestry of color and light, where every frame looks like a William Hogarth painting. This a slow movie — some might say boring — but I couldn't take my eyes away from it.
