The most depressing film I've seen in a minute...LMFAO! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema TROPA DE ELITE will be uploaded tomorrow! Enjoy the day!

The cliché line "every frame looks like a painting" it's because of this film.

I was intimidated by the runtime. But this is one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen

Probably Kubrick's most "inaccessible" i.e. least commercial film, but I love it. Barry bullshitted his way to the top and fell his ass back down hard.

My favourite Kubrick film, and one of the supreme artistic achievements in cinema. It's one of the rare period films that fully achieves an immersive sense of time and place, encouraging the viewer to adjust to a completely different rhythm of life. As well as being sly and sometimes very funny, it's also Kubrick's most moving and human film.

"It's like a beautiful painting of decaying fruit." That is a nice description of one of those scenes lol.

I saw this twice in the theatre when it came out. I was 8. Needless to say, it made a huge impression on me. I was obsessed with the music and the costumes. My dad helped me make a quill pen with a wing feather from our chicken and I spent hours signing “Helen Lyndon.” The Narrator is Michael Hordern, a great Shakespearean actor who starred in many BBC Shakespeare productions, including the Tempest and King Lear. The wry, omniscient narration sets the tone of the film, in which Barry is fighting against misfortunes set in motion when he was a child. The film begins and ends with a duel. He may be an opportunist, but in the end he behaves honorably towards his stepson.

My favorite Kubrick film. "Is this going to be three hours of intense pettiness?" YES.

The Oscars actually got it right by awarding this film for Best Cinematography, Production Design and Costumes.

2001 is a must when it comes to Kubrick

I've seen this movie only 3 times and honestly, for me, I think it might be one of the greatest of all time and my personal favorite of Kubrick's. It doesn't even feel like nearly 3 hours to me it goes by in such a breeze.

I interpreted this film as an examination on the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Barry is a good man, but money and power can and will change those who have them.

The humor was actually very intentional. Stanley Kubrick used every angle of the landscape to make the characters (especially Barry) look at small and petty as possible.

Fun fact: this was filmed in 100% natural lighting

"Is this film going to be three hours of intense pettiness?" - Welcome to Barry Lyndon... !!

Barry Lyndon is in my opinion the most beautiful film ever made. Speaking of Kubrick would love to see a commentary on 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kurbrick means so so much to me as a film lover and filmmaker so I'm SOOOO beyond excited that you're reacting to this!!! Absolute masterpiece

You don’t have to stop yourself from laughing at the “serious” stuff. The politeness is definitely meant to be ironic, because it hides a bunch of brutality underneath it. One of the funniest lines to me is when Barry says to Lord Lyndon, “I hope you’re not thinking of leaving us soon...” shortly before he dies. It’s one of the most hilarious and ugly fuck-yous you can give someone.

I’ve been wanting this for FOREVER!! Thank you - this is one of my favorite from Kubrick.

Hell yes, more Kubrick please! Especially 2001, Clockwork Orange, and Paths of Glory

The most underrated Kubrick film -- and a masterpiece of film making, storytelling and social commentary. Barry Lyndon is an effective IQ test.

The best part about Kubrick, and there's a lot to like, is his range. Every movie he did was a different genre. Barry Lyndon is my favorite of his movies but I would say don't skip Paths of Glory, it's one of his lesser brought up films but still amazing.

Every camera angle: Start close up - Zoom out Beautiful

Kubrick was a photographer, so is ability to frame scenes are immaculate. He would use paintings of that era to help him create those shots.

For Barry Lyndon, Stanley famously had to get hold of an ultra rare lens designed for NASA missions because he only wanted to use candle light to light scenes, and that was the only piece of equipment in existence that could make it possible.

I can't tell you how much respect I have for Leon Vitali, who played Lord Bullingdon. After this film, although a fine actor who seemed destined for greatness, he decided to move behind the camera and became Kubrick's right hand man. He worked extremely hard, making sure all of Kubrick's films ran smoothly, often having to deal with the mood swings that resulted from Kubrick's mercurial personality. He also worked on the restoration of Kubrick's films after the director's death. The documentary 'Filmworker' tells his story.

THE MASTER BY PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (Also saving this reaction for later, at home)

Starting a Stanley Kubrick dive with one of his deeper cuts, very cool! This channel keeps surprising me in great ways. Can't wait for "Eyes Wide Shut" reaction :)

interesting note: after making this film, Leon Vitali (adult Lord Bullingdon) basically devoted his life to working for Stanley Kubrick and helping him in the film making process. There is a documentary about him where he talks about his experiences working for Kubrick, it's super interesting

One of the most gorgeous movies ever filmed. Good story/acting too. One of Kubrick's more underrated movies for sure.

When you think about it, it's the opposite of depressing. He ruined so many lives in the beginning and middle of his life, towards the end, you wonder if even sacrificing himself was the birth of his honor, or simply an already-brave soul, trying to manipulate a much younger man into having some "undeserved compassion" towards him. Seeing Barry accept the stipend and ride away was a striking vision to me of what becomes of people like him; He is the old man with a thousand stories, and no friend but a half empty bottle of booze; Daring in youth, and too enslaved by their emotions to respect anything else about the world around them. A great film! 😀

My favourite Kubrick film. Every shot in this film is gorgoeous and looks like it could be a painting.

Yep, the movie is like one painting after another. The lighting is insane. Kubrick was a perfectionist and it shows.

2001 A Space Odyssey changed my life. You should definitely react to it if you’ve never seen it

This is the film Stanley got NASA to give him cameras so he could film by natural candlelight.

The candlelight scenes are all lit using the natural light from the candles, that's why there's so many candles. Stanley also used super special rare lenses which were developed by NASA for the space program to obtain those shots and had his cameras modified so the lenses would fit.

While I am a huge fan of all Kubrick films, this one has stayed deeply embedded in my psyche like no other ever since I first saw it in the late 1970's. It's a difficult thing to explain but I have never been so thoroughly transported to another era of time the way this film did. It was a nearly magical experience and to this day it's mesmerizing. Each shot is like a Renaissance painting, literally.

He was an ill-bred ruffian-- little more than a common opportunist. Best movie ever.

Barry Lyndon was shot by Kubrick like a moving painting.. even lit as a painting. I saw this film twice in the same week it was released in LA at the Cinerama Dome.. I even worked w/the make-up artist Barbara Daley.. she told me Kukrick made them study paintings of the period.. esp Gainsborough.. Stubbs? too many.. gorgeous.. I'm g;ad it's finally getting the attention it justly deserves

This Movie Is Literally “Every Frame Of Painting.” From the sets, the battle sequences, and the time period and performances are second to none. The cinematography in this movie is insane, all with Natural lighting and candle lit. Kubrick truly is one of the greats and I wish he would’ve have chance to make Napoleon. Personally I think this movie is one one of his bests movies.

Oh my god Im so freaking happy you’re watching this. A MASTERPIECE

Kubrick: The best there is, was, or ever will be.

I recommend you to check The Duelists, the first Ridley Scott movie. Visually it's in the same vein than Barry Lyndon (and set during the same History moment)... incredibly gorgeous film and a masterpiece on its own.

"Dang so homie got his girl stolen by Jerry Signfield...Thats rough" lmao

This is the most underrated of Kubrick's films. Although you don't hear a lot of people talking about Paths of Glory these days, people actively talk shit about Barry Lyndon and that really baffles me. It's a great story, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, the performances are top notch, and the accuracy of the time period depicted is second to none and makes the experience totally immersive. As far as Kubrick films go, Barry Lyndon and The Shining are tied for my favorite. You mentioned the shots, and rightfully so. The shots are literally like looking at a moving 18th century painting. The story is a slow burn but if you only pay attention, it's a very interesting one on individual human and societal levels.

I saw this on the big screen when it opened and was underwhelmed. But couldn't get it out of my head! I went back and watched it again 2 weeks later and declared it a Masterpiece!

Another period piece worth checking out is the Ridley Scott film, "The Duelists." It is renown for hhe cinematography of it's sword fights, some of the most realistic filmed.

An amazing painting of a movie.

10:38 "Stuck up by Benjamin Franklin" lol! It's so cool to see you react to this underrated film. It is strange how it's only when Barry basically achieves what he wanted that everything goes bad for him...I guess for guys like him thrive when they strive for stuff, but can't hold onto a good thing.

You should do a reaction to A Clockwork Orange, amazing film.

A beautiful and sumptuous movie, gorgeous imagery and photography, telling a wonderful and absorbing story. First time I saw the movie I was just so intrigued as to where it was going to take me, as we followed Barry on his way up the social ladder, his seeming arrival in high society, and the way his greed and his avarice led him on the slippery slope back downwards......it's not everyone's cup of tea, as it is a very slowly-paced piece, but it's so watchable, so brilliantly filmed and realised, it's right up there as one of my very favourite movies........there's no doubt, Kubrick can make a movie, and tell a story, better than most...............I love this movie!!

Barry Lyndon is my favorite Kubrick film

Next to Fargo, Barry Lyndon is my favorite movie. The storyline, cinematography, costumes and music were all sublime. Three hours goes fast when watching this. This movie was filmed in Ireland, England and Germany.

Kubrick (and a lot of the best filmmakers) respect the audience’s intelligence and uses acting and visual language to tell the story without holding your hand. 18:39 this is a scene of two people faking in love without saying a WORD. It’s brilliant

Paintings, paintings, and MORE paintings. For those of you commenting on how "every scene is like a painting", or some variation of it, there is a reason for it: Many of the scenes are inspired by 18th century paintings, i.e. the style or the subject matter. Kubrick had drawings/photos/whatever in his pre-filming preparations. One case I clearly remember is the "I demand satisfaction" scene.

Good to see some real appreciation of this under rated but innovative film of Kubricks. I was introduced to it via a Kubrick exhibition in London, it's a really great film, (my favourite scene is the dual at the end,) but it flopped despite it's many awards, so Kubrick decided to go on and make The Shinning. Based on the W. Makepeace -Thackery Novel written in 1844, about the rise and fall of Barry Lyndon, an Irish gamester turned fortune hunter, who marries a rich aristocratic widow, but ends up impoverished dying in Fleet Prison. The cinematography was meant to be inspired by the Hogarth and Gainsborough paintings of the time. Kubrick shot it in England, Ireland, and Germany, in natural daylight for both the inside and outside scenes, and in candlelight at night. Using the Arriflex, and BNC Camera's of the day but with x 3, Carl Zeiss Planar 50 mm adapted lenses, that were used during the 66' Nasa Space Programme, to photograph the dark side of the moon. The candles used were specialist long burning candles and they set up orange lamps out of shot, with light reflectors for the night time scenes.

Very interested to hear your reaction to seeing this astonishing movie for the first time, it does rather smack you between the eyes, doesn’t it! The actor who played Captain Potsdorf was Hardy Kruger. As a 16 year old his Nazi parents had him conscripted into the SS, where he disobeyed a direct order to shoot some PoWs. Normally he would have been executed immediately but because he was so young he was merely busted to a menial job where nobody watched his movements, he quickly deserted and spent the last six months of the war living rough in a forest as a fugitive.....aged 16. Which is how Captain Potsdorf came to have a smile that could freeze boiling water from 100 yards.

I am SO HAPPY you finally got to do this! I fought so hard on Patreon to get this chosen and so happy you experienced your first Kubrick film. You have more to check out, my friend :)

after working on this film the actor playing the grown-up stepson (leon vitali) became stanley kubricks right-hand man.. in so many aspects of kubricks filmmaking process.. great documentary on him called “film worker”

Oh wow good on you! Very few have the patience for a film like this. This is the film that showed me how to make two people fall in love without any dialogue.

Ah yes, Kubrick's Napoleon consolation piece

Aside from the incredible filmmaking, I was surprised how invested I got in the story. I like a good period drama but at 3 hours long with slow pacing, honestly, I thought it was gonna be boring but I was captivated throughout. What really surprised me was the humour. It’s like, on one hand, it doesn’t take itself too seriously but on the other it’s overly pretentious but it’s still funny regardless. For me, the highwayman scene is hilarious. Of course, every shot is gorgeous and I love the meticulous direction. The one scene where no dialogue is spoken but you can tell what is happening from small, subtle movements is just masterful. Finally, I think Barry Lyndon shows as long as you got a good story, the runtime doesn’t matter. Loving your reactions, keep it up.

The man wanted total control over all aspects of his films that he basically learned to do it all. He toiled for years per film in the latter part of his career with this approach. In this film in particular the developing shots that just linger express how life just moved slowly in those times compared to now. Kubrick wanted us to feel that.

fun fact: kubrick literally bought lenses from nasa that were used to take photographs on the moon so he could shoot scenes in this film that were entirely lit by candle.

27:12 "I'm already on my last legs out". Nope, NOW you're on your last leg.

"is this film just going to be 3 hours of intense pettiness?" YES! YES IT IS

What a film! Apparently Stanley Kubrick said that Leonard Rossiter (Capt. John Quin) was his most favourite actor... It doesn't matter when a film is made or a story is told... if its done right it will be remembered. I remember feeling drained but strangely entertained first time watching

How about watching The Duellists? Ridley Scott’s first film.

James: "What drew me to film is cinematography." Barry Lyndon: *first shot* James: "Well...how about that?"

Two more cool films that adress this peroid in history, - Restoration (1995) with Robert Downey Jr. And The Libertine (2004) starring Johnny Depp.

The brilliant thing about this film is that Barry is both the hero and the villain.

The picturesque quality of the shots wasn't an accident. They literally scouted scenes to emulate romantic paintings from that era.

Yes, I’m so glad you’re doing this film! I just think this is such an absolute masterpiece in every way, the cinematography is so unbelievable with all the beautiful natural lighting and how precise the choreography and composition is in almost every shot. I also think Barrys character arc is one of the greatest in film, and the incredible score, honestly there’s a million things I could just go on about with this film, defiantly peak Kubrick. Also I’m so glad your thinking about checking out more films by Kubrick, I think he’s easily greatest director who’s ever lived.

Outstanding how you can note all the detail of composition and palette, without losing your suspension of disbelief! Please don't neglect Kubrick's earlier works (especially 'Paths of Glory').

24:16. "Man, you can just see it. He's just balancing so many things. It's just like a bomb waiting to just, like-not even destruct, you know? Just kind of rust over, slowly. Just decay: not even worth an explosion, or the sight of one." I know how that is.

It always blows me away he lit this period correct with candles and natural light.

In my top 25 movies of all time. I think its pretty much perfect

one of if not my fave period piece film. master and comander, true grit right up there too

This might literally be the GOAT of shot framing.

"Is this movie gonna be three hours of intense pettiness?" Yes. Yes it is. 😆

I'm so excited to check this out. Thanks for this!

So cool to see your enthusiasm for the gorgeous photography.

This movie along with Kubrick’s movies are so surprisingly class conscious for when they came out, it’s amazing. This movie is definitely in my top 5 favorite films and my pick for best historical movie ever, even though my favorite is Master and Commander

It is insane how common dueling was when there wasn't any decent health care or pain killers.

Hooray! Another great video. "Is this film going to be three hours of intense pettiness?" 😂 Nailed it. This is such a great movie. I love its weird sense of humor.

Having heard that Kubrick spent time on preparing films that were never made, I went to the travelling exhibition of artefacts about him. It's true, he planned and pprepared a film of the book 'The Aryan Papers' and Spielberg made 'Schindler's List'. So we'll never know about that one. Another long project he never finished was 'Supertoys Last all Summer Long', which finally made it to the screen as Spielberg's 'A.I.'. Biggest of all: Kubrick wished to continue French director Abel Gance's 'Napoleon Buonaparte' with a film covering most of Napoleon's life. The research is there, the plans and designs are there, but today it would have to be a TV series of high production quality to even approach what he intended. Could probably get some money from France to get it going, at least.

Barry Lyndon is a savage critique of societal norms based on the 1840s novel "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" by William Makepeace Thackeray. The protagonist is an Irish (period English prejudice here) rogue, social climber and fortune hunter. If he were a woman, we would call her a gold digger. In the language of the time, he was an "adventurer." The movie moves slowly because society and life in general was a lot slower back then. But the message is damning all the same, brutally skewering the vanity and vapidity of high/aristocratic society in the twighlight of the ancien régime. It attacks the obsession with social class, the insane financial habits of the idle wealthy including gambling for mind boggling sums while living far beyond their means, arranged marriages, dueling, and so on. IMO the film is one of Kurbrick's best. The cinematography is among the finest in the history of cinema with many of the scenes directly inspired by 18th century paintings including landscapes, and portraiture. The cinematography brilliantly contrasts the glitter that we tend to associate with that era, with the reality of the rot and moral corruption that was so pervasive at the highest levels of European society in the final decades before the French Revolution. In many respects the film reminds me of, and may have partly inspired Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence." One important difference between the film and book is that in Thackery's novel, Barry ends up in debtor's prison.

WE NEED you to react to 2001. Shot on film, all practical effects, the most amazing effects ever put on film...

Aaahhh, James! My favorite film. I’m so glad you dug it!

You mentioned some shots that look like paintings. In planning this movie, they went through books of paintings from the time in which it was set, picking ones to use as inspiration for the shots.

Your videos are great, man, I have a feeling your channel will grow pretty fast!

Those early sences are filmed around Ireland. The Shell Cottage at Carton House, Powerscourt House, Russborogh House (maybe), Potsdam, near Berlin, Castle Howard in Yorkshire (a lot of the second half was filmed here), Kells Priory and many other grand houses around Europe were used for filming.

The American Cinematographer magazine had articles for each Kubrick film when they came out and they are must reads, especially the interview John Alcott did for the 1975 issue when Barry Lyndon came out. He explains the special f/.07 lenses nasa provided to achieve the candlelit sequences (and how they pulled off everything else.) Truly a special film that may never be duplicated.

Thank you for giving this film a review. It's pace is fitting for the era in which it takes place. Patience pays off. This is a film in which new things will be seen with repeat viewings. You will see many of the same actors in other SK films. The character of Barry Lyndon reminds me a bit like Forrest Gump, going from a bad situation into a good & flying by the seat of his pants.

For the scene lit by candles, I remember Kubrick "borrowed" one of a kind lenses with T0.7 aperture. Absolutely incredible.

Barry went from a young and hopeful romantic to a bitter and cold older man. I love how none of the characters, especially his cousin, showed up later. It really is just a continuous journey. The past didn't matter and it was just a part of his life that he moved on from.

I want this movie in 4k so I can watch it another hundred times

Excellent video! Barry Lyndon is one of my favorite films of all time.

This film is like a moving version of a series of famous satirical paintings from this time period called "The Rake's Progress". They depict the rise and fall of a young scoundrel climbing the social ladder (often by lies and trickery). They make fun of the rigid class structure in England, and how people debase or make fools of themselves to get ahead in it. The film looks like painted landscapes and moving paintings, reminiscent of these paintings.

Did you notice all those startled pigeons 27:02 in the barn for the final duel? The scene was a nightmare for the actors and the wardrobe department. Pigeons + sudden loud bangs = lots of pigeon poo. Those lovely costumes don't look so elegent and refined anymore when they are dripping in it.