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A FEW months ago I went to see a restored 70 mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and film I had not seen (I realized) in decades. A number of things struck me, among them how beautifully and in some ways unconventionally Kubrick used the music in the film. (Of course, the the slow, ruminative, color-soaked grandeur of the movie was also very hard to miss.)
This is of course not the only time Kubrick has done something smart, imaginative, or shocking wit the music in his films. He’s a fascinating character: I know as many people from the literary world or from rock bands who revere Kubrick as I do among the cinephile crowd.
Over Thanksgiving, the LA Philharmonic will present the music from five of Kubrick’s movies — from 2001 to Eyes Wide Shut — with scenes projected above the orchestra. Here’s my piece for Los Angeles magazine.
(I get a slight kick out of the name of the Phil’s project — “Stanley Kubrick’s Sound Odyssey”; the hometown record store where I bought my first albums was called Sound Odyssey.)