COLOUR ME KUBRICK

2006 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

COLOUR ME KUBRICK

  For the past several decades, we have all been living in a world in
which the culture of the celebrity has become first and foremost. There are
numerous television shows that traffic in the minutia of the lives of
well-known figures. There are even places where you can hire a lookalike
for whatever reason. It seems that most people want to somehow
bask in the reflected glory of a the famous.

  Now, think about someone who makes movies but prefers to remain
as anonymous as possible. Someone who doesn't give interviews or
doesn't seek the white hot limelight. Is there such a person? Well, there
was one filmmaker in the second half of the 20th Century who fit that bill:
Stanley Kubrick. The Bronx-born director and screenwriter decamped
for England in the early 1960s and his penchant for avoiding the press
led to his being labeled a "recluse" among other things. (That this was
something of a misnomer doesn't seem to matter.)

  Perhaps not surprisingly then, a man by the name of Alan Conway
parlayed his limited knowledge about Stanley Kubrick into a rather
long-lived confidence game. For about a half dozen years in the 1990s,
Conway went around London pretending to be Kubrick. Director Brian
W. Cook (in his feature directorial debut) and screenwriter Anthony
Frewin have made a "true... ish story" based on Conway's life called
COLOUR ME KUBRICK. What they've ended up with onscreen is
a relatively brief movie that provides a showcase for actor John
Malkovich in the leading role.

  Malkovich pulls out all the stops as Conway -- a flamboyantly
gay man who utilized Kubrick's name to cadge free drinks, seduce
impressionable (and attractive) young guys, and freeload off of
a well-known but closeted British celebrity (portrayed by Jim Davidson).
The filmmakers opted for a more episodic structure (with the occasional
flashback) and I do have to say that by the end of the 90 minutes, I
was growing weary of the shtick. Maybe it's because I'm not that big
a fan of Malkovich's; for me a little of him goes a very long way.
Perhaps it was also that the story was becoming repetitious. In the
end, Conway managed to evade fully paying for his crimes by
pulling off yet another con, so perhaps it was that the screenwriter
couldn't find the proper denouement.

  The large cast features some well known individuals ranging
from Richard E. Grant as a nightclub owner to Honor Blackman as
a brothel proprietor to Marissa Berenson (who starred in Kubrick's
BARRY LYNDON) as New York Times reporter Alex Witchell Rich
as well as up and coming performers like Ayesha Dharker as a
psychiatrist and Mark Umbers as a rent boy.

          Rating:               B-