Product Details

• Actors: John Malkovich, Jim Davidson, Richard E. Grant, Luke Mably, Marc Warren
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Magnolia
• DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MNOX9O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,241 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Color Me Kubrick" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

COLOR ME KUBRICK - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars tour de force for Malkovich, April 1, 2007

By 

Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color Me Kubrick (DVD)

***1/2

"Color Me Kubrick" will remind you a bit of Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me if You Can," in which Leonardo Di Caprio played a world-class con artist who duped people into believing he was a myriad of Very Important People whom he was really not. In "Colour Me Kubrick," the imposter is a man named Alan Conway who goes about London telling people he is the famed (and famously reclusive) director, Stanley Kubrick, in order to bum rides, free drinks and even sexual favors off of them. I guess it's appropriate that I just happened to catch this film on April 1st of all days.

Written by Andrew Frewin and directed by Brian W. Cook, "Color Me Kubrick" is clearly a godsend for its star, John Malkovich, who seems to be having the time of his movie-acting life doing this role. Malkovich tailors his demeanor and accent to fit the audience to whom he is playing, running the gamut from Capote-esque fey for his gay "clients" (Conway is himself gay) to regular-guy macho for his straight targets. Yet, Malkovich never resorts to mere playacting to create his effect; by fully inhabiting the character, he keeps Conway from descending into a merely clownish figure and allows him to register as a fully developed human being.

Unfortunately, although the screenplay is frequently witty and even downright hilarious at times, the movie itself is never quite as good as Malkovich is in it. Despite its overall originality, there's an innate one-note quality to the setup that the movie cannot completely shake, so that, even at a mere eighty-six minutes, the conceit tends to wear a bit thin after awhile. The filmmakers somewhat make up for that weakness by also showing us the means by which Conway is eventually unmasked for all the world to see. There are also a number of surprisingly poignant moments in the film in which we are shown just how sad, lonely and pathetic an individual Conway really is. The most touching sequence comes when a movie-savvy young man in a bar uncovers Conway's ruse by trapping him with a trick Stanley Kramer question. As Conway slinks away from the scene humiliated and crestfallen, we can clearly see why Malkovich is one of the finest actors of his generation.

Beyond the Conway character, the film provides a gently satirical jab at our culture's overwhelming obsession with celebrity and our willingness to suspend critical judgment on a person or a scheme if we can discern a benefit for ourselves by doing so. For, indeed, virtually everyone who allows himself to be duped by this impersonator has starry-eyed dreams of one day making it big in either the entertainment business or the world of corporate financing. Conway has merely come up with a clever way of exploiting that obsession for his own personal benefit.

There's also something wryly humorous in the fact that, although Kubrick is universally recognized as being one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, his face was so unfamiliar to both the general populace and even people in the movie industry that Conway was able to pull this ruse off for so long without getting caught. Can anyone imagine an individual trying that same stunt with Spielberg, Tarantino, Scorsese, etc.?

This is a slight but endearing comedy that is a must-see for John Malkovich fans.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Color Me Lavender, October 15, 2007

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color Me Kubrick (DVD)

I finally ordered this DVD at the urging of a friend and ardent movie buff. I'm glad I took his advice. Directed by Brian Cook, "Color Me Kubrick" stars John Malkovich as a real-live con-artist whose real name is Alan Conway. As gay as pink lemonade, Conway-- aptly named-- "cons" a lot of people into giving him money and expensive gifts by posing as the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick. The movie belongs to Malkovich for his camp over-the-top performance that delights the viewer for 90 minutes or so. His costumes defy description and have to be seen to be believed. There are lots of hooty moments here as Conway convinces his unwary victims that he is Kubrick. Only rarely is he found out. In one scene he rattles off a list of his films-- he is always working on some new project and might use the talents of his latest quest-- and includes "Judgment at Nuremberg" as one of his. At least he got the "Stanley" correct since Stanley Kramer directed that one.

There are references here and there throughout the film to Kubrick movies including much of the music he used. In addition to being a sad commentary ultimately about a man who is no one but a no one who gets away with this hoax-- he ultimately meets his waterloo when the American journalist Frank Rich meets him and exposes him-- "Color Me Kubrick" makes a statement about celebrity worship.

Although a much better film, "Six Degrees of Separation" is also based on a true story of a gay man (Will Smith) who poses as Sidney Poitier's son and fools a lot of the pretentious New York art world for a season. While two examples of gay people impersonating the rich and famous do not a significant statistical sample make, perhaps the phenomenon should be further explored.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is Not a Bad Movie!, April 1, 2007

By 

Joshua Miller "Josh" (Coeur d'Alene,ID) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Color Me Kubrick (DVD)

"Color Me Kubrick" is the true story of a how a man pretended to be Stanley Kubrick, during the time Kubrick was filming "Eyes Wide Shut." The man was Alan Conway, who looked nothing like Kubrick (a known recluse) and knew little about his films. In "Color Me Kubrick," Conway is played by John Malkovich, sporting several phony accents and whose performance is campy, but accurate. The film is low on plot; We simply watch Conway con people into thinking he's Kubrick, so he can take advantage of them for free money, free drinks, free cab fare, free sex, etc. Eventually, as his victims begin to grow in number, newspapers begin to catch on. Since John Malkovich is in almost every scene of the film, he's the person that truly carries it. Any fan of Malkovich will tell you that his performance works best when he's using his regular voice; There's a cold, reserved, iciness to it...It seems whenever he breaks away from his bad guy roles into his good guy roles, his voice will change ('Of Mice & Men' & 'Shadow of the Vampire'). Here it changes a lot, but his performance is nevertheless great. The story is very interesting too, because Conway managed to convince so many people and actually ruined people's lives as a result of pretending to be someone he wasn't. In a bit of irony to end all irony, Conway died three months before Kubrick of a heart attack. The film, which was released on DVD and in some theatres at the same time (usually, in my opinion, a bad sign to the quality of the film), is very well made; Filled with in-jokes and little bits of Kubrick trivia. The movie uses a soundtrack that frequently incorporates legendary music from Kubrick's films (music from "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange," and more...). One scene, where Conway is asked about his next film and who is going to be in it, he answers; "John Malkovich. But Warner Brothers says he's not big enough to carry the film." The film is not perfect, I would've liked to know a little more about Conway...Why he chose Kubrick, why he chose to impersonate anybody at all, his past before impersonating Kubrick...But for the kind of movie it is, "Color Me Kubrick" is a mildly funny, very entertaining film with a great performance by John Malkovich and is worth checking out if you're a fan of Kubrick or Malkovich.

GRADE: B