Stanley Kubrick’s rigor, formal consistency, and well-cultivated mystique has ensured the critical treatment of his work as something that is itself monolithic; in some ways, this view of Kubrick as an auteurist’s sacred cow, whose perfectionist vision merely requires some time to sink in, has hamstrung critical appraisal of his work. In this feature, our aim is not to once again dance around this monolith like so many awestruck apes, but to pry it open slightly, the better to discern its contours and occasional fractures. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be looking at each of Kubrick’s films – from his early documentaries to his majestic late works, and beyond – in an effort to not only to reinforce the internal coherence of his oeuvre as a whole, but also see past the looming shadow of Stanley by examining each film as its own distinct entity.