A Clockwork Orange is directed by Stanley Kubrick, my favorite director of all time and this is my second favorite movie of all time including one of my favorite villain performances of all time! A Clockwork Orange is every genre, it's Sci-Fi mixed with crime, drama, psychological thriller, satire, horror elements and most importantly romance (nah, I'm kidding).
At the time of release it was considered purposefully disturbing, boring and overall just not a great movie, however years later, when critics gave it a second viewing, they retracted their reviews and it is now considered one of the best movies of all time! Same kind of thing with two other Kubrick movies- 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining- when these movies were released critics hated on them, same complaints with all three of these films, yet a second viewing (once again) proved that it was misunderstood and genius.
A Clockwork Orange has one of the greatest opening scenes in cinematic history, we have Alex looking directly at the camera, while his droogs are passed out and looking elsewhere. His intense stare and narration create a weird and already disturbing atmosphere. On this first viewing, I strongly disliked the movie, and I couldn't make it through that first r**e scene, I was completely and utterly disturbed. A year later I decided to rewatch it, after watching other mature movies I think I was ready for A Clockwork Orange, and I was right, this movie is beautifully filmed, perfectly scripted and the fact that Kubrick did most camera work, wrote the film, directed it and produced it is beyond me. He is a perfectionist and you can tell that with each shot - even the minimal ones - he put in the most amount of effort that he could and it truly made me appreciate cinema more.
Some scenes are deeply disturbing, when I went back and watched it for a third and fourth time, I always shut my eyes during the "Singin' in the Rain" scene. Alex DeLarge is a monstrous human being, yet he is our protagonist, he commits these heinous crimes and he gets jail time he deserves. He runs into all of these people who he has beaten earlier in the film, even runs into his two droogs, they all punish him and we feel slight sympathy for his character, he is locked in a room by Mr Alexander (the husband of the woman who died from injuries sustained during the Singin' in the Rain scene) and forced to listened to Beethoven - this music reminds him of the crimes he commited and it tortures him to the point of near-suicide. He jumps out of the window and Mr Alexander goes to jail.
The Ludovico techique is seen as wrong and is being pushed to be stopped, Alex is now seen as a hero in the newspapers and the ending is left to interpretation, I think that Alex definitely wasn't cured, he is going to continue this endless cycle of r**e and violence, unlike the book's ending which has Alex become a normal human being. Overall, this is the most unique and intriguing movie I have ever seen.
At the time of release it was considered purposefully disturbing, boring and overall just not a great movie, however years later, when critics gave it a second viewing, they retracted their reviews and it is now considered one of the best movies of all time! Same kind of thing with two other Kubrick movies- 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining- when these movies were released critics hated on them, same complaints with all three of these films, yet a second viewing (once again) proved that it was misunderstood and genius.
A Clockwork Orange has one of the greatest opening scenes in cinematic history, we have Alex looking directly at the camera, while his droogs are passed out and looking elsewhere. His intense stare and narration create a weird and already disturbing atmosphere. On this first viewing, I strongly disliked the movie, and I couldn't make it through that first r**e scene, I was completely and utterly disturbed. A year later I decided to rewatch it, after watching other mature movies I think I was ready for A Clockwork Orange, and I was right, this movie is beautifully filmed, perfectly scripted and the fact that Kubrick did most camera work, wrote the film, directed it and produced it is beyond me. He is a perfectionist and you can tell that with each shot - even the minimal ones - he put in the most amount of effort that he could and it truly made me appreciate cinema more.
Some scenes are deeply disturbing, when I went back and watched it for a third and fourth time, I always shut my eyes during the "Singin' in the Rain" scene. Alex DeLarge is a monstrous human being, yet he is our protagonist, he commits these heinous crimes and he gets jail time he deserves. He runs into all of these people who he has beaten earlier in the film, even runs into his two droogs, they all punish him and we feel slight sympathy for his character, he is locked in a room by Mr Alexander (the husband of the woman who died from injuries sustained during the Singin' in the Rain scene) and forced to listened to Beethoven - this music reminds him of the crimes he commited and it tortures him to the point of near-suicide. He jumps out of the window and Mr Alexander goes to jail.
The Ludovico techique is seen as wrong and is being pushed to be stopped, Alex is now seen as a hero in the newspapers and the ending is left to interpretation, I think that Alex definitely wasn't cured, he is going to continue this endless cycle of r**e and violence, unlike the book's ending which has Alex become a normal human being. Overall, this is the most unique and intriguing movie I have ever seen.