Hang out with HAL at TIFF’s new Stanley Kubrick exhibition
If you’re going to mount a substantial gallery show dedicated to a filmmaker’s work, it helps if that director is a little bit obsessive. Stanley Kubrick was an infamous control freak, flaunting totalizing, tyrannical power. It’s the kind of experience that can be hell for actors—his taxing work ethic caused Shelley Duvall’s hair to fall out on the set of The Shining—but tends to benefit fans. The Lightbox’s new exhibit is filled with the fruits of Kubrick’s neurosis: annotated scripts, production photos and detailed notes, including those pertaining to his legendary unfinished projects (a biopic about Napoleon, a Holocaust drama called The Aryan Papers). The show also collects plenty of artifacts and knick-knacks from the canon, like the Star Child model from 2001: A Space Odyssey, a miniature war room from Dr. Strangelove and the “Born to Kill” helmet from Full Metal Jacket. Taken together, the props and exhaustive documentation are more than just film ephemera—they’re a glimpse into the oddball imagination of one of cinema’s most remarkable, and commanding, talents.
Fri. Oct. 30–Jan. 25. $12.50. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., 416-599-8433, tiff.net.
John Semley’s writing has appeared in the Guardian, Rolling Stone, Esquire and elsewhere. He is a regular contributor to Wired, the New Republic and the Toronto Star.
