Interesting glimpse into Kubrick's life as he generated many of the movies he was famous for. ( )

Stanley Kubrick and Me by Emilio D'Alessandro is a very good and intimate look at Kubrick the person and the relationship with the author. This is not, and makes no claim to be, a cinematic history of Kubrick's films or an intimate look at the filmmaking process. This also doesn't claim to be a biography of Kubrick. To complain about what the book never tried to do as though that is a failing of the book is actually more a statement about a reader's inability to read what a book is about before choosing it. So if you want film stuff, steer clear of this. If you want to know about Kubrick when he wasn't on set (and there is some insight to be had about his processes here, just not explicitly laid out as such) then you should give this book a try.

I found this book to offer a wonderful glimpse at Kubrick behind the scenes, in the life he guarded fiercely. If you know Kubrick's films well, you will make some possible connections between life and film but these are not the point of the book and they are also only possibilities and not definitive links. In some ways it was looking for the director within this personal life that represented half the fun.

This is very much about both Kubrick and D'Alessandro so if you don't want contextualization for the Kubrick parts you may be less pleased, but you'll also miss out on the dynamics of a long term relationship between the two and how each influenced the other.

I would recommend this to readers who like their film histories well-rounded and not just about films as objects. If you don't care so much about really getting to know the people involved in film, Kubrick in this case, then this may not be for you since this looks at Kubrick in relation to people, to friends and family, and not as though his life were lived in a vacuum.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss. ( )