Rating of
3/4
Awkward, but surprisingly watchable.
memento_mori - wrote on 07/09/13
I find it hard to admit that I like the movie Lolita. Then again, who finds it easy to say: 'I love movies about pedophiles.'?
Stanley Kubrick was crazy. I had heard about things he did on set, OCD vibes he let off and made the actors redo takes for hours. But his most notorious act of all was choosing to adapt 'Lolita', a book centering around pedophilia. How did he manage to make it successful? My review right now:
For the restrictions at the time, I think they did a good job. You can definitely tell something is going on between Humbert and Lolita, but nothing is ever said explicitly. It's always mentioned as a question or referred to as 'you know what'.
As stupid as it may seem to have the movie filled with almost sensual references, it is pretty good anyway.
The characters are wonderful. They are written so comically and treating the matter at hand like it is a joke for them to dance upon. The whole movie has a dark comedic touch and I like that, because ironically, in the worst place to put black comedy, it works.
The camerawork and overall direction by Stanley Kubrick is surprising. He manages to pull off a story this fragile and smoothly transitions it onto the screen. Often leaving things up to the audience, he fades to black suddenly.
Quilty is by far the most convoluted character. Peter Sellers is one of the funniest comedic actors to have ever lived, but he is so poorly set up and makes the most weird decisions. Funny, but non-sensical.
The acting is splendid. They handle everything with ease and I cannot imagine what stress they must have endured during the filming on the same set as Stanley Kubrick.
The pacing is also quite well-handled. They don't just dive into - you know what - they take time to set up the characters, to make us familiar with the relationships between all the people.
Where the film fell short for me was the finale. That was just embarrassing and stupid. Overly dramatic and non-sensical.
As much as the topic is difficult to bear, I find this is a well-crafted movie with great acting and characters to outweigh the issues of the climax and the slight confusion.
