Rating: 
Summary: Illuminating, Frustrating, Seductive
Review: If Raphael truly wants the last word, let him publish his very first 172-page draft of EYES WIDE SHUT, and we'll know for sure in whom the talent lies!
Rating: 
Summary: Docked a star for ill-will
Review: In which Frederick Raphael, who met Kubrick a few times, and wrote the first draft of the worst script Kubrick ever filmed, writes a version of their meetings in which he had all the best lines, won all the arguments, and no doubt left poor Stanley feeling pretty silly for not having Raphael's grasp of languages, classical reference and so on. Though he dutifully concedes Kubrick's genius Raphael patronises Kubrick throughout. It's surprising Raphael didn't work in a scene, somewhere, in which Stanley used the wrong fork at dinner, or ordered the wrong wine. But the effect is not ironic comedy in which we laugh at poor Kubrick, as Raphael possibly hoped, but that more basic form of comedy in which a pompous and malicious man takes a pratfall: the prat in this case being Raphael. I haven't read much Raphael, but his writing here does explain one part of the mystery of Kubrick's last, disappointing, film _Eyes Wide Shut_. Time after time, watching the film, I found myself wondering who had done the "updating" of the 1920s source material to supposedly contemporary Noo York; contemporary except for oddities like the man at the party attempting to seduce Nicole Kidman by talking that naughty Mr Freud at her. Mr Freud was terribly modern, once, and no doubt he was a source of fashionable conversation, including talk intended to seduce, in Vienna in the 1920s. But in up-market New York in 1999? No, Mr Raphael; not for a long, long time. Raphael's "seducer" would have driven Kidman's character, a literate, urban sophisticate, not to titillated shock but to incredulous laughter. But Mr Raphael's writing in this memoir is so tone deaf, so unaware of the impression he is making, that it explains the tone deafness of much of the _Eyes Wide Shut_ script. That creates a new mystery, which is why Kubrick gave the job to a writer so modestly talented. Kubrickian hubris, I think, is the answer; Kubrick avoided talented actors (after _Dr Strangelove_, at least, and with the possible exception of _Clockwork_'s Malcom McDowell), perhaps with the idea of making sure that all the magic on the screen was clearly his. Avoiding talented writers is a next logical step, but one that is more damaging to the final product. Why more damaging? Because scriptwriters are not only much more important than actors, which should go without saying, but also more important than directors. The credit "A film by ..." should surely go to the writer(s) and to no-one else. The director should get an authorship credit to the extent that he or she worked on the script, as I believe Kubrick generally does. Directors of movies are as important as the directors of Shakespeare plays; and though those directors are creative and egotistical people, they rightly don't claim authorship of another person's ideas, vision and words. Raphael's trade is an honourable one, even if he himself is no great ornament to it. Though to be fair his earlier _Two for the Road_ isn't a bad script. I might have given this book two stars, because it gives a few glimpses of Kubrick, a notoriously private man. Even though the glimpses aren't at all illuminating, and though the book is short it's still a dull, dull read. But it loses one of its stars, not so much for cashing in on the fame of a recently-dead man, which in itself would do no great harm, but for the bad faith and ill-will of using Kubrick to sell a book while at the same time trying to build up Raphael at Kubrick's expense. Not recommended, even for fanatical Kubrickians. Cheers! Laon
Rating: 
Summary: kind of readable
Review: It's clear from the start that Raphael, the pretentious self-indulgent writer, obviously wants the reader to be on his side to roll eyes together about that bearded man with the tender white hands, who struggled with French words and names. Raphael doesn't shrug to show off how erudite, well-spoken, witty, and educated he is. Much of the stuff is in screenplay-format -- apparently Raphael wrote down or recorded every single word that was spoken between him and Kubrick. Or shouldn't we take the dialogues to literal? In that case, Raphael made sure he kept all the best lines for himself. In this book, Raphael tries to explain that Kubrick isn't the easiest guy to work for, but that merely qualifies as a revelation as the director and his eccentric and often discussed working methods have been around for a decade or five. No, this book is actually more revealing about Raphael himself. The subject matter is an alibi. The deceased director is a mean, not the goal. Who is Raphael trying to convince how smart he is? The reader or himself? My guess is the latter. Either way, pretty sad, Freddy boy. And I rolled my eyes about him once or twice. Page after page after page. Kubrick is dead, but it's Raphael own fault the master STILL had the last laugh.
Rating:
Summary: One word: Inappropriate
Review: Raphael is obviously cashing in on Kubrick's death. He wouldn't have released this book with Kubrick still here. He's enchanted more with himself than anything else (maybe 1/2 the book is really about Kubrick at all). Whenever Raphael refers to Kubrick as a "genius", you can't help but get the feeling that he's being facetious. He treats this project like more of an obsession to Kubrick than anything else. Ironically, he alludes more than once to Kubrick being a very "proud" man. Make no mistake about it, Raphael doesn't get off his "high horse" once. Don't buy it. Don't give him the satisfaction.
Rating:
Summary: Ego Wide Open
Review: Raphael's ego that is. This book is hardly about Kubrick. It's more like the diary that someone with chronic insecurity would keep for their therapist. There are, to be sure, a few glimpses into Kubrick's collaborative modus operandi but he manages to keep Raphael, and therefore us, at a quite a distance. This book might have been more interesting had the author not continually kept returning to himself as the main subject. I suppose he had to, for his relationship to SK was tangential at best. Still, I found myself getting angry with the author over his virtually unrelenting self absorbtion.
Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ego Wide Open
Review: Raphael's ego that is. This book is hardly about Kubrick. It's more like the diary that someone with chronic insecurity would keep for their therapist. There are, to be sure, a few glimpses into Kubrick's collaborative modus operandi but he manages to keep Raphael, and therefore us, at a quite a distance. This book might have been more interesting had the author not continually kept returning to himself as the main subject. I suppose he had to, for his relationship to SK was tangential at best. Still, I found myself getting angry with the author over his virtually unrelenting self absorbtion.
Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been so much more...
Review: Raphael, obviously hoping to ride the coattails of hype surrounding 'Eyes Wide Shut,' disappoints the reader who is looking to get an account of working with Stanley Kubrick. Raphael does his best to stay away from Kubrick, only conversing with him on the phone for the most part. Raphael talks of himself and his intellectual chessmatch with Kubrick as if he thinks he was Kubrick's artistic peer. the biggest disappointment is that Raphael, in his rush to get the book out before EWS, doesn't reflect AT ALL on what he thought of Kubrick's finished film. He just blathers on about how Kubrick is not a writer and his obvious lack of understanding in writing screenplays. Even still, I was hoping to see if Raphael changed his mind of what Kubrick ended up doing with his finished screenplay. I give it two star instead of one only because Raphael is a decent writer who carries you through the book with not too much boredom.
Rating:
Summary: Badly-written
Review: Rather poorly written, not only in content (self-serving, gossipy) but also in regards to the feel of the language. The narrative accomplishes both extremes--sometimes ridiculously choppy, at other times packing so many twists of phrase into one sentence that it suffocates it. I didn't enjoy reading this book, and never got to the end of it.
Rating:
Summary: A rushed hack job to make money off of Kubrick's death.
Review: The author should be ashamed of himself, but judging by his arrogance, he won't be. Christiane Kubrick should sue him. Only for hard-core Kubrick fans.
Rating:
Summary: what is the lowest rating I could give
Review: The body was barely cold before he had the manuscript at the printers. This is the worst type of biography. Fred is a backstabbing goon who will be looking (UP) at stanley for all eternity.
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