Latest / The Downing Arts Podcast / LT26.4 Stanley Kubrick meets Barry Lyndon

Transcript

LT26.4 Stanley Kubrick meets Barry Lyndon · The Downing Arts Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Downing Arts Podcast.
• 0:04
  It's been a busy week with the Dramatic Society's Sondheim production over the
• 0:08
  weekend, a beautiful evensong of baroque masterpieces on Sunday,
• 0:11
  and a number of talks, concerts, and the closing of the Gap in the Clouds
• 0:16
  exhibition in the gallery. Here with me in the
• 0:19
  studio for today's interview is Gustavo Avila. Welcome, Gustavo. Thank you
• 0:24
  very much. Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be here. It's lovely to
• 0:28
  have you. And do you work in the housekeeping department, is that right? Yes,
• 0:31
  yes, I'm in the housekeeping department and I'm a house porter right now.
• 0:35
  So, yeah, I mean, down in college since March of the last year,
• 0:39
  so I've been there for one year. Time flies when you're having fun.
• 0:42
  Yeah. So. So what kind of things do you have to do on a daily
• 0:45
  basis? What does your role actually involve? Well, basically, I need to take care,
• 0:48
  like maybe with furniture, and I need to.
• 0:52
  To support the ladies of the house,
• 0:55
  the housekeepers, you know, when they're cleaning the rooms and
• 0:59
  everything. I need to take care of them if they need anything. And so,
• 1:04
  yeah, basically I'm like taking care of the whole college in terms of that,
• 1:08
  supporting them if they need something, move furniture,
• 1:11
  whatever. Yes. So, yeah, it's a good job,
• 1:14
  you know, all of the people in college, so that's good. Yeah,
• 1:18
  no, that's great. That must be. Must be really, really lovely to have that kind
• 1:22
  of view on the whole community. So. So you said you've been here for a
• 1:25
  year and a bit, and where were you before you came to us? Yes,
• 1:29
  yes, yes. Well, I mean, working in the college since the
• 1:33
  last year, but I'm in England since September 2023 because
• 1:38
  I did a Master in history. That's why I'm here. And previously I was living
• 1:41
  in Ireland and I'm telling you this because actually that's related about why
• 1:46
  I really like Barry Lyndon, what I'm going to talk about later. And before Ireland,
• 1:49
  I was living in Romania, so I've been abroad. I'm from Mexico, so I've been
• 1:53
  abroad five years ago. So, yeah, yeah, it's. It's been nice. It's a good.
• 1:57
  A good travel, good journey. You must have a lot of experience of different countries
• 2:01
  and cultures and so on. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, we're delighted to have you with
• 2:05
  us at Downing. And as you've mentioned, you're going to talk about Barry Lyndon,
• 2:08
  the film. This is not something I'm particularly familiar with, so I'm
• 2:13
  Sure. Some of our listeners won't be either. So could you just give us a
• 2:16
  kind of brief outline of the film? Yeah, of course, of course. Well,
• 2:20
  first of all, the name of the movie is Barry Linton.
• 2:24
  This movie is from 1975 and it's by Stanley.
• 2:27
  Stanley Kobach is the director, one of my favorite ones.
• 2:31
  In summary, this movie, it's about the story of. Well, it's based
• 2:36
  on a book from the 19th century. And actually
• 2:39
  the name of the book was the Lock of Barry Lyndon.
• 2:42
  And it's very interesting because basically it's the story of this
• 2:47
  character called Redmond Barry. And he's
• 2:51
  Irish. So everything started with his life in Ireland
• 2:54
  and he's living with his mother. And he
• 2:58
  learned a lot of gentleman things about his mother,
• 3:01
  but he's not a real gentleman. So in summary,
• 3:05
  at some point he moves to England and he travels to England,
• 3:09
  he travels to Germany, and finally he gets married with Mrs.
• 3:13
  Lindon. That he is part of these rich people in
• 3:17
  England of the 18th century. And so that's how he gets
• 3:22
  the surname Lyndon, because basically it's her surname.
• 3:26
  So he wants to be part of the high society.
• 3:30
  But further than that, I think it's a very interesting movie
• 3:34
  in terms of the story of God. It's very interesting about the
• 3:37
  landscapes. And it's very interesting about the music, I think, particularly the
• 3:41
  music. It's amazing because you have, like, Irish music and you have classical music
• 3:45
  like Hamden, I think. I don't know how to pronounce, but I think the
• 3:50
  main theme is by hand. Yeah. So you have Bach and you have Beethoven.
• 3:54
  And I think the music, it's very interesting. Yeah. So I really
• 3:58
  recommend, if you have the chance, watch Barry Lyndon. And just a final comment.
• 4:02
  I think it's a very underrated movie by. By. By Stanley
• 4:06
  Kobre. But it's fantastic. So what drew you to this film in the first place?
• 4:10
  Yeah, when I. It was like 15 years ago. I used. It was
• 4:14
  a time that I used to watch many movies with my
• 4:17
  sister when I was still in Mexico. We were watching basically all of the films
• 4:22
  by. By Stanley Kubrick. So we started with A Clockwork Orange. Then,
• 4:25
  you know, like the 2001 and Space Odyssey.
• 4:29
  And so we. We found this movie, Barry Lyndon. And I remember
• 4:33
  watch it and I wasn't expecting anything,
• 4:37
  actually. I thought it was long because it's like about three hours.
• 4:40
  But then I watched it and I was just impressed.
• 4:43
  So, yeah, basically it was like an accident because it's not most famous
• 4:48
  film by Stanley Kob. And you've mentioned that the music's really
• 4:52
  good. You mentioned some classical composers like Beethoven,
• 4:56
  Handel and so on. Presumably they're using specific pieces.
• 5:00
  Is that something that attracted you? Yeah, the soundtrack, it's amazing
• 5:04
  and I think it's very good because, like I was mentioning before,
• 5:09
  the story started in Ireland. So at the beginning, the most of the time,
• 5:13
  the soundtrack is just Irish classic, classic Irish music, which I
• 5:17
  find very interesting during that time. The first time I watch it, I had no
• 5:21
  idea that I would be living in Ireland at some point of my life.
• 5:23
  But then afterwards, when I was living there, I realized
• 5:28
  about this fantastic thing of the film afterwards,
• 5:31
  when the main character is moving to Germany, you will find that the
• 5:35
  music, it's different than at the beginning because you change from the Irish music
• 5:40
  to the traditional Irish music. You change to these German composers.
• 5:44
  And especially from this time, we're talking about 18th century. That is.
• 5:47
  I'm not a professional in this kind of music, but I think it's like the
• 5:51
  golden age, maybe. And then when he moves to England,
• 5:55
  you will find other composers and other music. But when
• 5:59
  you watch it with the landscape and when you watch it with all of the
• 6:03
  photography, the scenes that are there, and the amazing performance
• 6:08
  by Ryan o' Neill, that is the main character, it's just
• 6:12
  fantastic. And I have to say that, for example, I really like classic rock.
• 6:15
  I'm not a fan of this classical music,
• 6:19
  but in spite of that, it's very impressive.
• 6:23
  So, yeah, I think the main theme by
• 6:27
  Handel, it's. I don't know how to pronounce, but it is. I think the name
• 6:30
  is Sarabant of the piece, something like that by Handel.
• 6:34
  And that's the main one. So, yeah, it's very good.
• 6:38
  The music, the soundtrack, it's amazing. So Saraband
• 6:43
  is a type of dance. So is that relevant to the bit of the
• 6:46
  film that accompanies that? That I didn't know that. So thanks
• 6:50
  for the information. Yeah, as I said,
• 6:55
  I've not seen the film, so I. I, yeah, can't really comment on that.
• 6:58
  But actually this is a nice conversation because I think I'm. I'm learning from you,
• 7:02
  so I really. I really appreciate this kind of chats. Well,
• 7:05
  I'm definitely learning from you. So do you have any particular
• 7:09
  favorite other films? Yeah, I don't know. I have.
• 7:13
  I have a lot. I mean, if we're. My other favorite director,
• 7:17
  it's Woody Allen. And it's funny.
• 7:21
  It's funny to mention. It's a good question because now that I'm thinking, why Woody
• 7:25
  Allen? It's maybe my other favorite director. I think the music in
• 7:29
  the movie is very important for me now that I'm thinking
• 7:33
  about it. With Woody Allen, of course, it's not like this music. It's completely different.
• 7:36
  It's more like jazz. It's more like Charlie Parker or one
• 7:40
  of the classical. You know, the jazz from the first half of the
• 7:44
  20th century. So, yeah, I would say that maybe Annie
• 7:48
  hall, it's my other, like, favorite movie. It's completely different
• 7:52
  to Barry Lyndon. But, yeah, I could say. And again,
• 7:56
  it's the same. I think the music, it's very, very important.
• 7:59
  And in any movie of Woody Allen, I think the soundtrack,
• 8:03
  it's always fantastic. Yeah. I mean, do you play any
• 8:07
  musical instruments or do you. Do you sing or anything? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually,
• 8:11
  when I was in Mexico, I used to play in two cover bands and
• 8:15
  I. And I play the bass guitar here in England. Well, I cannot bring my
• 8:18
  bass with me, so I. Here I'm learning to play the ukulele. But yeah,
• 8:22
  my main instrument is the bass. Yeah. Going back to
• 8:26
  Barry Lyndon. Yes. It's based on a book. Book, isn't it? It's a Thackeray.
• 8:31
  Is it? William Makepeace? Thackeray. The book. Have you read the book?
• 8:34
  Yeah, no, I read the book. Honestly, I'm curious about it
• 8:38
  because I know there are some difference with the. With the film and, you know,
• 8:41
  I will. I won't say always, but many times
• 8:45
  the books are better than the movies. I don't know if it's the case with
• 8:48
  this film, but. But yeah, I won't say always,
• 8:51
  honestly. Like, for example, A Clockwork Orange. I think the film, it's better than the
• 8:55
  book. I read the book already. The book is nice by Anthony Gorges. But I
• 8:59
  like. I enjoyed more the film and perhaps
• 9:03
  maybe because the music, again, it's fantastic, you know, with.
• 9:07
  Yes. Alex Delarge and everything. So,
• 9:11
  yeah, I think, yeah. As you say, the music and films just make such a
• 9:14
  difference. You can manipulate an audience's emotions,
• 9:17
  even with the most innocuous of scenes, by what
• 9:20
  you're doing with the music. For example, just before I forget it, like, I think
• 9:24
  Martin Scorsese, it's another director that plays with the music in
• 9:28
  a funny way because in some films of Martinez Cortes, he always likes to
• 9:32
  play this happy, like you were saying, happy go looking music. While in the
• 9:36
  scene they're punching or they're just kicking a guy. And it's
• 9:40
  a very violent scene, but with a very Happy song. So I think those
• 9:44
  kind of things are very like funny and it's a good trick, especially Martin
• 9:48
  Scorsese. Yeah. No, no, it's interesting, isn't it, as you're saying it, having the opposite,
• 9:52
  different emotions sort of juxtaposed and yeah, it can
• 9:56
  make something funny or it can make something really full of suspense or.
• 9:59
  Yeah. Try to defend with that song.
• 10:03
  Yes. Yeah. Perhaps that's a conversation for another day because I think we
• 10:06
  could probably. Probably go on forever. Yeah. The other thing with
• 10:10
  you saying about films being based on books and so on, I think sometimes we
• 10:14
  forget that a film is, you know, it will say at the end of the
• 10:18
  film based on the novel by whoever. So I think that that's kind of
• 10:22
  not exactly a get out clause, but perhaps a way of saying, well, actually it's
• 10:25
  not meant to be necessarily the film of the book is, you know, it's just
• 10:28
  based on the book, whatever it may be. I don't know.
• 10:31
  But I just. I've always thought that's quite. That's quite a neat way of kind
• 10:35
  of getting around that on the part before making the film.
• 10:38
  That's true. Wow. Well, thank you very
• 10:42
  much for. For speaking with me today. It's been really nice to meet you and
• 10:46
  see you around college very soon. Yeah, thank you very much and well,
• 10:49
  yeah, and thank you very much for the chat. I really enjoyed this conversation.
• 10:57
  This week in college. Tonight at nine in the chapel,
• 11:01
  there's a come and sing compline open to all. No experience needed. Just turn up
• 11:04
  on Sunday at 6. We have evensong as usual in the chapel this week with
• 11:08
  music by Wood and Bax, which the choir will be singing at Ely Cathedral next
• 11:12
  week on Monday at half past six. Also in the chapel, the chaplain
• 11:16
  continues his series of talks this week on the Church of England as a spiritual
• 11:20
  church. There's a life drawing event in the Huon Gallery at 5 on Tuesday.
• 11:23
  See the show notes for details.
• 11:30
  There are a couple of deadlines coming up for events later this term and next.
• 11:33
  Today is the final deadline to sign up for the Danny Driver Piano Showcase weekend.
• 11:38
  All levels are welcome. Danny is one of the finest pianists in the world,
• 11:42
  so it's a great opportunity to learn from one of the best. See the show
• 11:45
  notes for details. The Twining Eggington Fine Arts Prize submission deadline is 12
• 11:49
  noon on Monday 16th March. Entries will be displayed to the public in
• 11:53
  the Hyung Gallery and there are no rigid rules as to what counts as art.
• 11:57
  Again, see the show notes for details. Lots coming up as we
• 12:01
  come to the middle of term. Thanks for listening.