An underrated film-noir that turned out to be far more engaging than expected, Killer's Kiss is no masterpiece in my opinion but it did serve its purpose well as a warm up exercise for director Stanley Kubrick's talents before he started churning out one masterpiece after another until the very end of his legendary film career & is as experimental as his later features.

The story revolves around Davey Gordon; a 29-year old boxer well past his prime, who's waiting at the train station for his girl and in an extended flashback recounts the happenings of his recent past. Filmed on a shoe-string budget, it presents Stanley Kubrick in charge of the responsibilities of director, cinematographer & editor all by himself, at…

"You confuse pity for love."

A man and a woman, each with nothing to lose. Their pity for eachother turns into love (I think?), and the only thing standing in their way is another man who only has the woman to lose. The entire drive of this film stands on the shoulders of a one night encounter between the two leads. Instead of showing us the necessary scenes that would build onto the relationship, its instead mentioned in narration. This can be a crucial turn off for the viewer if they dont believe in their romance. But for me, there was just enough for the suspense in the third act to pay off, where the film also spits in the…

"Like the man said, 'Can happiness buy money?'" ~ Vincent Rapallo

Even renowned director Stanley Kubrick had his salad days. He was on welfare during the making of this film, his second feature, which he wrote, produced, directed, filmed and edited. In later years, he would describe this production as his "student level of filmmaking."

All the shooting was conducted in New York City with virtually no budget and without on-location filming permits. In fact, it's been said that Kubrick had to negotiate with homeless people to use an East Side alley for the movie's murder scene.

A borrowed spring-wound Eyemo camera was used for many of the sequences, and it was stolen before production ended. What's more, technical problems…

Neither top-tier Kubrick nor top-tier noir, but still a fascinating artefact for anyone interested in charting the progress of the auteur. It's debatable whether it even constitutes a proper film noir - visually it fits the bill, it's got the voice-over, and there's the seedy urban milieu of back-alley-fire-escape New York, but it also lacks a lot of standard tropes. As ever, it seems Kubrick is less interested in the mechanics of genre than in the framework it provides him for exploring his own preoccupations, most notably at this point, photographic composition. We get a glimpse of Kubrick Future at times, exhibiting his magic eye for framing despite a very limited budget.

The story is pretty rote: a washed-up boxer's…

A Year of Film History Challenge
(watching a little bit of film history month by month, decade by decade)
--
One thing Killer's Kiss really drove home for me is how crucial the music is to the films of Stanley Kubrick. Despite being beautifully shot and with moody noir lighting, the movie is frequently pulled back from the fateful and brooding territory that was Kubrick's wheelhouse by Gerald Fried's peppy and repetitive 50's score. It's clear enough how important Kubrick feels the music is to his production, but unlike the camera, it's just not a tool he's adept with yet.

There's still skill in a lot of other areas though. Kubrick gets to do the boxing match from his short…

Review In A Nutshell:

Killer's Kiss is by far Kubrick's most difficult film to watch, with a plot that never at all goes anywhere interesting or profound, only to be somewhat redeemed by the final thrilling sequence that proves the director's craftsmanship of creating tension and desperation.

In comparison to Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss is a less ambitious film, taking place in a familiar environment and featuring a story that is more grounded and superficial. Character development is lacking in this film and chemistry between the two lovers are nowhere to be found. A sense of danger was present during the first half of the film, but it never takes charge until the latter half of the film. Dialogue…

Wayyyyyyyy better than Fear and Desire.

It's clear in this that Kubrick improved a lot from his first film. I wouldn't say that I disliked this, but I wouldn't say that I liked it either. I'm honestly pretty indifferent to it.

I think some of the visual storytelling was cool. Some scenes would go on for extended periods of time with little to no dialogue which was cool, yet occasionally dragged. I think the general aesthetic and cinematography was ok, with a few standout shots in particular. The big one that comes to mind was one in which the subject is facing the camera, but because of a mirror behind him, we as viewers can see what he's actually looking…