Ryan McNeil
Another week, another big-screen first. This time around, it was occasion to gather with some fellow movie enthusiasts and give ourselves over to a new print of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE at The Lightbox.
I have a good standing relationship with Stanley Kubrick’s (1971) film: I’ve seen it multiple times, I own a copy on dvd, I’ve even managed to read the book that it is based on. However, I’d never really count myself as a “fan” of the film. I like it a lot for how fresh it still feels, and always take something away from it whenever I rewatch it….but I’ve never been able to defend it. I know many people who dislike the film – some who outright loathe it – calling it misogynistic and even disturbing. I can’t argue with that: not because I disagree, but because it feels like the sort of film determined to extol such visceral reactions.
I might not find it to be misogynistic or disturbing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not. It’s a heavy film for sure, and one I’ve never backed in a fight.
Seeing it in a theatre for the first time inevitably brought some unconsidered details to light. For starters there’s the score, a sonic blanket that comes in every few scenes and just seems to smother you. Hearing the notes of Ludwig Van screaming out from the sound system at The Lightbox began to make me understand how it could drive young Alex so mad.
The other thing that came to light, thanks to watching it in a public environment, was all of the absurd humour. Hearing my friends snigger and laugh at odd side-characters like the truant officer, Mr. Alexander’s man-servant, and the warden actually reminded me how darkly funny the movie was intended to be. Even in one of the film’s rougher scenes – the one involving the second break-in – there’s a heaping teaspoon of twisted humour that involves a phallic sculpture dropping in and out of the shot. Such things might make a viewer laugh on dvd, but sometimes one feels ridiculous laughing alone. Laughing in a collective does much to disarm this twisted tale.
Perhaps the most interesting part of seeing it on the big screen involved the Ludovico Technique scenes. Coming in, I felt they would bombard the senses, put me into Alex’s position and leave me equally unable to look away. Oddly though, they didn’t. I had more trouble enduring films like TARNATION and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM that that sequence.
By the time Gene Kelly started singing and we picked up to leave, I was once again happy to have experienced a classic I enjoy on the big screen. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is designed both to amuse and unsettle – quite the daring cocktail. I’m happy to report that drinking that cocktail from the proper glass for the first time left me delightfully drunk.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE will be playing daily at The Lightbox until Thursday November 10th.
I continue to be ridiculously jealous of all you bloggers I read who live in places like Toronto, LA, Austin, NYC, etc… where they have events like this.
While I’m definitely not in the supporters camp for this movie, it disturbed me deeply – though I feel like it’s worth me rewatching and re-evaluating (been 6 or so years since I saw it) – I would kill to watch films like this on a big screen.
This past weekend I went to the theatre here in Port of Spain, Trinidad (yup moved to a new island, the theatre here is kick ass (in comparison at least)), where they are busy having a European Film Fest, playing mostly dated films but still interesting. I saw [Rec] (first time watching), but I was slightly disappointed when the film started up and I saw that they were running a DVD projection. I wanted a 35MM print… arghh… ahh well…
Are these events you go to usually film prints? remastered digital? or someone in the theatre popping in the DVD? Would it matter to you either way?
I do want to get to Austin one of these days, something tells me it would be like going to the mothership. There are bloggers I know who live within driving distance and don’t go very ofetn. That baffles me.
While it wouldn’t matter to me between print/dvd/digital, the films that I’m seeing are a mix of all three. BACK TO THE FUTURE in the spring was a digital copy, 2001 last winter was a 70mm print, TIME BANDITS was a 35 mil print that was actually in pretty rough shape! As long as the sound is good as well then I’m not fussy.
When you make your inevitable canadian journey, I’ll be sure to find one or two of these showings for you. Glad to hear that TT has some good things to offer cinematically!
Man, of all of the films of Kubrick I want to see on the big screen. It’s this one and it’s my favorite of Kubrick’s films.
Heh – you still have another week before the end of its run…c’mon up!
I could never really get into Clockwork Orange. It was just too much.
You tried watching it – How far did you get?
When I was growing up this movie wasn’t available and so it got lumped together with a lot of horror movies (the so called video nasties) as a must see for any young movie fan. I first saw it on a pirate video when I was fifteen or sixteen. I didn’t see it again until a decade later when it was released at the cinema in 2000.
A lot of my thoughts at the time where similar to yours, the sound was more overwhelming than the visuals but it is a film that really bombards the senses. Although this onslaught is present when watching on DVD it isn’t the same as on a big screen.
It is a film I really like but have never been able to love.
It’s a hard film to love, since the sensory overload competes so much with the absurdist humour. Like anything else, the appreciation comes from repeat viewings – and I can’t recommend seeing this on a big screen highly enough.
PS – Thanks for the influx of comments. I was starting to miss you around here.