Killer's Kiss 4K 1955

Stanley Kubrick's second feature film suddenly turned out to be an order of magnitude better than the failing first ("Fear and Loathing"). Although, it would seem, the original premise is the same: a negligible budget from borrowed funds from the family, again the script in collaboration with Howard Sackler, and again Kubrick himself replaces half of the film crew. This time, however, the result is a film that is no longer embarrassing to watch and no longer embarrassing to show.

In terms of genre, it is a classic noir pulp fiction - with the obligatory boxer going through the bad days of his career, a beautiful dancer as the object of his romantic desires, and a mafia boss (in this case, a redneck dance-club owner) standing in the way of their happiness. The plot of the film is extremely simple; but you don't want to reproach it for that, somehow.

What "The Killer's Kiss" unexpectedly surprised and delighted with was Stanley Kubrick's camerawork talent that finally unfolded to its fullest. Each frame is built and lit with the utmost photographic precision - it is a pleasure to follow the picture. Combined with competent musical choices, some scenes are quite deeply imprinted in the subcortex - especially the climactic escape through New York City at night and the final fight in the mannequin warehouse.

Curiously, a number of scenes seem to contain allusions to future Kubrick works. The dream episode is reminiscent of the psychedelic space-trips from 2001 Odyssey, the axe on the wall (which, of course, is bound to go off later) then skips straight to The Shining, and the notorious fight involving stabbing and chopping objects looks like the gladiatorial fights from Spartacus.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film, so I recommend it to anyone interested in the director's work. For others, I don't think there's much point in watching it.