BEFORE: As promised, more Kubrick references - I suppose I really should add "Spartacus" and "Paths of Glory" to the want list, I've seen most every other Kubrick film. Linking from last night, Peter Sellers was in "Casino Royale" with Woody Allen, who was in "Hannah and Her Sisters" with Michael Caine, who was in "The Dark Knight" with Christian Bale, who was in "Empire of the Sun" with John Malkovich (last seen in "Ripley's Game").
THE PLOT: The true story of a man who posed as director Stanley Kubrick during the production of Kubrick's last film, "Eyes Wide Shut", despite knowing very little about his work and looking nothing like him.
AFTER: Well, I'm sort of lumping in "con men" with cases of mistaken identity here, but I think they've got something in common. The main difference between Chance in "Being There" and Allan Conway is that Chance wasn't aware of what he was doing.
Last night's film used the theme from "2001" to set a mood, and tonight's film continues that trend (using the original, non-disco version, though), along with other audio cues from Kubrick films, like "The Blue Danube" (also used in "2001"), "The Thieving Magpie" (used in "A Clockwork Orange"), and so on. I know the soundtrack to "A Clockwork Orange" very well after wearing out a cassette of it during my moody college days.
Con-man Alan Conway chose to impersonate Kubrick because so few people knew what he looked like, the famous director was a bit of a recluse, and reportedly eccentric. He managed to play on Kubrick's fame to get drinks, meals and apparently a lot of sex (the gay kind). Who wouldn't want to get to know a famous, influential film director, especially if he's telling a lot of Hollywood stories, and making a lot of vague promises about getting people into his movies (right after getting them into the sack).
As Conway, Malkovich never uses the same cover story, or the same accent, twice - and all of his victims are either charmed by him, or afraid to report him to the police due to the explicit nature of their relationship. The best moments here are are when Conway is unloading a stream of B.S., talking vaguely about future films, like making a sequel called "3001", with John Malkovich as an astronaut. (I wonder, did the filmmakers know that Arthur C. Clarke actually DID write a sequel to "2001" with that title?)
I found the film clever in bits, and very believable, since people will often do anything for fame, without realizing that the famous director never seems to ever pay for drinks or pick up a check - it's very easy to rationalize, and say "Famous people never carry cash" - but don't they carry credit cards? I just wish that all of the incidents shown here added up to some larger point or moral. I also wish the film had chosen one pronounciation of "Kubrick" (some people say Cube-rick, some say Koo-brick) and stuck with it.
Also starring Richard E. Grant, Lee Davidson, and a cameo from William Hootkins (Porkins from "Star Wars: A New Hope") as NY Times critic Frank Rich.
RATING: 4 out of 10 heavy-metal bands
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