“COLOR ME KUBRICK”–a “tru-ish” story

“Color Me Kubrick”

A “Tru-ish” Story

Amos Lassen

There are very few people who are not aware of who Stanley Kubrick was. His death left a void in fimmaking and those of us that have seen “A Clockwork Orange” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” are not likely to ever forget them.

The film “Color Me Kubrick” is based on a true event which occurred in the 1990’s when Kubrick was filming “Eyes Wide Shut”, his last film. It stars John Malkovich as flamboyant gay male who somehow manages to impersonate the director. Malkovich is Alan Conway pretending to be Stanley Kubrick and he does so with a great deal of camp. Conway leads a good life (that he manages somehow to get other people to pay for). He also is able to persuade young good-looking men to drop their pants for him.

Malkovich gives an amazing performance albeit slightly over the top. He is a man of many accents and mannerisms and uses them all. He makes fun of other Hollywood actors and appears to be having a wonderful time playing this role. He is perfectly at home playing Conway as he peels off layer after layer of weirdness. What makes this so interesting is that Conway, the real man, knew absolutely nothing about Kubrick yet he managed to pull off this imitation until he was ultimately discovered by the theater critic for “The New York Times”, Frank Rich.

The costumes are amazing and Malkovich wears them like a trooper. At times he is dressed as a bum and at other times as a stereotypical flamer. He manages to seduce what seems to be the entire gamut of masculinity. This movie is a great joke. When Conway as Kubrick promises a young Liberace like man to star in a Las Vegas show we see how Conway works his game.

I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining no brainer of a film. I just sat back, watched and enjoyed myself all the way through.