'Filmworker' A Review

Filmworker is a documentary about Leon Vitali the long-time right-hand-man to director Stanely Kubrick. Through archieve footage and talking head interviews the film looks at his life, dedication, and work as a defacto personal assistant to Kubrick sacrificing his time, family, and health.

Although certainly interesting for any cinephile, detailing interesting behind-the-scenes minutia on now classic movies, the film fails to puncture the mystery that is Vitali. With a promising acting career blossoming he walked away from it completely to be Kubricks personal assistant. He did some really important work- location scouting, casting, editing, print development etc.- but also cleaned up pet hair and was frequently the whipping boy for Kubricks famous rages. He, monk like, dedicated his life in the service of one of the 20th century's greatest and mercurial auteurs. But the film only circles around his motivations for this and fails to really investigate how he feels about it.

For a film about filmmaking the visuals are relatively pedestrian following the serviceable if traditional format. Interesting but more appropriate for a lazy afternoon at home rather than the big screen.

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