I am very happy that most of the "reports" now, that have been posted about
my Uncle Jan Harlan's documentary have been positive, and that the major
objective of
counter-balancing the negative and largely speculative "opinions" about
Stanley has been successful. I have to say though, what else did you expect
from his friends and
family?? This film is a tribute, a loving memory of a man who was LOVED, and
I think very little of those who might expect us to do otherwise. It doesn't
need to be
"balanced". Of course I could tell you about the times he pissed me off for
one reason or another, but those reasons would not be very different from
the average daughter's
grievances with her over protective Dad, and would be VERY boring. One is
either loved or is not, and if you were expecting warts, sure, read Baxter,
if it makes you feel
better. (Baxter never met Stanley, and his book seemed to concentrate on
interviewing people with a grievance.)
If you want to read moronic things about Stanley, you won't have to look
very far. There are loads of people who have taken the opportunity to berate
him, either for his
films and artistic integrity or his misunderstood personality. As for
in-depth analysis of each of his films; well one would need a whole film
just to deal with each movie, if
it were to be done properly. What I am trying to say is: Enjoy the film for
what it is. Jan's first film. and [imho] HIS personal thank you to Stanley
and OUR chance to do
likewise.
Regards, Katharina [May 8, 2001]
Sean Wrote
I do understand what you are saying. But we will not be the people to
produce such a documentary. It would almost be impossible for us to make
such a thing, and can you
imagine the uproar if we got it wrong? None of us are really qualified for
such an undertaking IMO. All we have done is try to redress the balance so
that when researching
Stanley people can look to Jan's film for the "other" and honest view of him
and hopefully it take on board.
Paul Joyce made the doc "The Invisible Man" which was very biased in a
negative way, and then made The Last Movie, (which he was going to make any
way) but with
our co-operation. We were able to put the other side and it turned out to be
a rather more balanced film. I strongly suspect that another doc will be
made eventually, but by
(hopefully) real serious film scholar types without an agenda, who will do
proper research and interview not only "names" but dedicated people whose
area of study is the
art of film, and film makers. I'm sure there will be many more books too.
Patrick Bateman wrote:
Well! What a splendid response, you're most generous Patrick. Thank you and
I am very happy that you thought Jan did a good job. It could have been 12
hours long of
course. SO much footage, so many people. Wasn't Stanley handsome when he was
a young man! I think he had one of those faces one can see in a Caravaggio
painting, all black eyes and mysterious. ;O)
Vincia1 wrote:
As I am the one reading the "instructions" for looking after the animals.
(Glad you thought it was funny BTW. I could barely contain myself whilst
reading it and had to do it three times!)
Dad had written the list for the people who were going to be looking after
the house/animals whilst we were all in Ireland. I made a separate trip back
home, once a house
had been found in Waterford, to collect the three golden retrievers, and
bring them over to Ireland via the ferry. (That list of instructions was
even longer for the dogs.)
That was a funny trip. A friend and I and three dogs ,freezing on the deck
of the ship, hoping madly that they wouldn't "need to go" till we landed...
It was the cats who
had to stay behind.
Maybe I was hoping more for an actual documentary, an objective view
of an artist, maybe your uncle is not the person to examine this aspect of your father?
[A Life in pictures is] Awesome, This is the type of documentary I can use to say to people who ask me, "why do you like him", it says it all.
the documentary actually tells a funny story about the highly-detailed, 15-page set of instructions Kubrick wrote to his family on how to take care of his cats while he was away.
Go back to Katharina Kubrick Hobbs FAQ main section