S.K.-- no, the other one.

Sure, they share the two initials.  They also share a work called The Shining.  But the S.K. I want to talk about is...(drumroll) Stanley Kubrick.

There are a handful of directors whose movies I will watch, without a clue as to their content, sight unseen.  Darren Aronofsky is one.  Paul Thomas Anderson is another.  There's David Lynch.  And, of course, Kubrick.

I discovered Kubrick when I saw Eyes Wide Shut on cable back in 2000.  Sure, I'd seen the trailers, and thought they were annoying.  Hey, I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan.  I mean he's a decent actor, but actors in general don't really interest me.  Let me revise that a bit.  Celebrities don't interest me.  I hate celebrity culture.  And to me, then and now, Cruise is a big part of that.  Anyway, I saw the movie because my wife kept telling me how cool it was.  She and I have watched many movies over the years and she knows what I like.  I like to think about what I'm watching.  I like intelligent films, strange and dark films.  Complex films.  So, I watched it.  At first, it seemed like a boring movie about yuppies.  But it soon morphed into something unique, something all its own.  I watched it again and noticed things I'd missed the first time.  It was then I decided I must see more Kubrick movies.

We watched 2001: A Space Odyssey soon after.  I remember seeing the rating on the back of the DVD case: rated G.  I wondered how the man who'd made Eyes Wide Shut had made a G movie.  Then I saw it.  It truly is a masterpiece.  From start to finish.  I knew right away after finishing the movie that I'd missed a LOT of stuff.  So I watched it again, too.  So many observations can be made about 2001.  Hell, a guy named Jay Weidner has written articles and made a documentary about 2001 and its relation to alchemy.  Yes, you read that right.

As of now I have seen all of Kubrick's work.  Each film has its own mood, its own look, but they all look and feel like Kubrick films.  Each one seems to have a depth that is unique to themselves.  They have more in common with literature than with other movies.  So, if you have never seen anything by Kubrick, you know what to do.  And be sure to check out those links I included.  Interesting stuff, even if you don't agree with it.