Thu September 4, 2014
Fear and Desire & Killer's Kiss (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1953/55)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at PFA Theater
(see times)
Classic Double Feature!
Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1953)
A squad of soldiers finds itself stranded behind enemy lines. They are members of an unspecified army, fighting an unspecified war. We are given their names and ranks, but little more. Kubrick’s first feature film, written by future Pulitzer Prize–winner Howard Sackler, is an existentialist exercise in the meaninglessness of war, played out in an eerie zone of suspended dread. With its skewed camera angles, occasionally clunky dialogue, and a kind of adjourned action, Fear and Desire delves into the dark abyss of martial mayhem asking us to behold humanity set free of foundational beliefs. The soldiers are “further imperiled . . . by an unseen but deadly enemy who, upon scrutiny, seems to be almost shaped from the same mold,” Kubrick wrote. Here, combatants (Paul Mazursky among them) face off with their own faces, only to see doppelgängers in the fatigues of foes. Kubrick’s initial outing is like a hand grenade—you can miss your target but still feel the blast.
• Written by Howard Sackler. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Kenneth Harp, Paul Mazursky, Virginia Leith. (62 mins, B&W, 35mm, Preserved by Library of Congress, From Library of Congress)
Followed by:
Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1955)
Ever the cunning creator, Kubrick determined what murky settings in his NYC neighborhood he could exploit for a low-budget film, then had scriptwriter Howard Sackler cast a net of words over them. The result is an ever-menacing mood piece about an exhausted taxi dancer (Irene Kane) and a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who must endure the jealous jockeying of a nightclub owner (Frank Silvera). But being this is a Kubrick film, albeit an early one, dancer and pugilist must duke it out as well. While a harshly chiseled Silvera provokes the match, it is the bruised lovers who inflict body blows of betrayal upon each other. Shot (and edited) by Kubrick, the young director already had an exacting eye for the evocative set piece. In Killer’s Kiss, a harrowing fight in a mannequin storehouse finds a telling metaphor in discarded body parts from the female dummies wielded as weapons. The working title, Kiss Me, Kill Me, says it all—sex and violence are wed like a curb to the gutter.
• Written by Howard Sackler, from a story by Kubrick. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, Jerry Jarret. (67 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Park Circus)
show less
Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1953)
A squad of soldiers finds itself stranded behind enemy lines. They are members of an unspecified army, fighting an unspecified war. We are given their names and ranks, but little more. Kubrick’s first feature film, written by future Pulitzer Prize–winner Howard Sackler, is an existentialist exercise in the meaninglessness of war, played out in an eerie zone of suspended dread. With its skewed camera angles, occasionally clunky dialogue, and a kind of adjourned action, Fear and Desire delves into the dark abyss of martial mayhem asking us to behold humanity set free of foundational beliefs. The soldiers are “further imperiled . . . by an unseen but deadly enemy who, upon scrutiny, seems to be almost shaped from the same mold,” Kubrick wrote. Here, combatants (Paul Mazursky among them) face off with their own faces, only to see doppelgängers in the fatigues of foes. Kubrick’s initial outing is like a hand grenade—you can miss your target but still feel the blast.
• Written by Howard Sackler. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Kenneth Harp, Paul Mazursky, Virginia Leith. (62 mins, B&W, 35mm, Preserved by Library of Congress, From Library of Congress)
Followed by:
Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1955)
Ever the cunning creator, Kubrick determined what murky settings in his NYC neighborhood he could exploit for a low-budget film, then had scriptwriter Howard Sackler cast a net of words over them. The result is an ever-menacing mood piece about an exhausted taxi dancer (Irene Kane) and a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who must endure the jealous jockeying of a nightclub owner (Frank Silvera). But being this is a Kubrick film, albeit an early one, dancer and pugilist must duke it out as well. While a harshly chiseled Silvera provokes the match, it is the bruised lovers who inflict body blows of betrayal upon each other. Shot (and edited) by Kubrick, the young director already had an exacting eye for the evocative set piece. In Killer’s Kiss, a harrowing fight in a mannequin storehouse finds a telling metaphor in discarded body parts from the female dummies wielded as weapons. The working title, Kiss Me, Kill Me, says it all—sex and violence are wed like a curb to the gutter.
• Written by Howard Sackler, from a story by Kubrick. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, Jerry Jarret. (67 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Park Circus)
Classic Double Feature!
Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1953)
A squad of soldiers finds itself stranded behind enemy lines. They are members of an unspecified army, fighting an unspecified war. We are given their names and ranks, but little more. Kubrick’s first feature film, written by future Pulitzer Prize–winner Howard Sackler, is an existentialist exercise in the meaninglessness of war, played out in an eerie zone of suspended dread. With its skewed camera angles, occasionally clunky dialogue, and a kind of adjourned action, Fear and Desire delves into the dark abyss of martial mayhem asking us to behold humanity set free of foundational beliefs. The soldiers are “further imperiled . . . by an unseen but deadly enemy who, upon scrutiny, seems to be almost shaped from the same mold,” Kubrick wrote. Here, combatants (Paul Mazursky among them) face off with their own faces, only to see doppelgängers in the fatigues of foes. Kubrick’s initial outing is like a hand grenade—you can miss your target but still feel the blast.
• Written by Howard Sackler. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Kenneth Harp, Paul Mazursky, Virginia Leith. (62 mins, B&W, 35mm, Preserved by Library of Congress, From Library of Congress)
Followed by:
Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1955)
Ever the cunning creator, Kubrick determined what murky settings in his NYC neighborhood he could exploit for a low-budget film, then had scriptwriter Howard Sackler cast a net of words over them. The result is an ever-menacing mood piece about an exhausted taxi dancer (Irene Kane) and a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who must endure the jealous jockeying of a nightclub owner (Frank Silvera). But being this is a Kubrick film, albeit an early one, dancer and pugilist must duke it out as well. While a harshly chiseled Silvera provokes the match, it is the bruised lovers who inflict body blows of betrayal upon each other. Shot (and edited) by Kubrick, the young director already had an exacting eye for the evocative set piece. In Killer’s Kiss, a harrowing fight in a mannequin storehouse finds a telling metaphor in discarded body parts from the female dummies wielded as weapons. The working title, Kiss Me, Kill Me, says it all—sex and violence are wed like a curb to the gutter.
• Written by Howard Sackler, from a story by Kubrick. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, Jerry Jarret. (67 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Park Circus)
read more
Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1953)
A squad of soldiers finds itself stranded behind enemy lines. They are members of an unspecified army, fighting an unspecified war. We are given their names and ranks, but little more. Kubrick’s first feature film, written by future Pulitzer Prize–winner Howard Sackler, is an existentialist exercise in the meaninglessness of war, played out in an eerie zone of suspended dread. With its skewed camera angles, occasionally clunky dialogue, and a kind of adjourned action, Fear and Desire delves into the dark abyss of martial mayhem asking us to behold humanity set free of foundational beliefs. The soldiers are “further imperiled . . . by an unseen but deadly enemy who, upon scrutiny, seems to be almost shaped from the same mold,” Kubrick wrote. Here, combatants (Paul Mazursky among them) face off with their own faces, only to see doppelgängers in the fatigues of foes. Kubrick’s initial outing is like a hand grenade—you can miss your target but still feel the blast.
• Written by Howard Sackler. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Kenneth Harp, Paul Mazursky, Virginia Leith. (62 mins, B&W, 35mm, Preserved by Library of Congress, From Library of Congress)
Followed by:
Killer’s Kiss (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1955)
Ever the cunning creator, Kubrick determined what murky settings in his NYC neighborhood he could exploit for a low-budget film, then had scriptwriter Howard Sackler cast a net of words over them. The result is an ever-menacing mood piece about an exhausted taxi dancer (Irene Kane) and a has-been boxer (Jamie Smith) who must endure the jealous jockeying of a nightclub owner (Frank Silvera). But being this is a Kubrick film, albeit an early one, dancer and pugilist must duke it out as well. While a harshly chiseled Silvera provokes the match, it is the bruised lovers who inflict body blows of betrayal upon each other. Shot (and edited) by Kubrick, the young director already had an exacting eye for the evocative set piece. In Killer’s Kiss, a harrowing fight in a mannequin storehouse finds a telling metaphor in discarded body parts from the female dummies wielded as weapons. The working title, Kiss Me, Kill Me, says it all—sex and violence are wed like a curb to the gutter.
• Written by Howard Sackler, from a story by Kubrick. Photographed by Kubrick. With Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, Jerry Jarret. (67 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Park Circus)
show less
Date/Times:
PFA Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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