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Lolita

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Lolita (1962)

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97 %
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Reviews Counted: 37

Fresh: 36

Rotten:1

Average Rating: 8.1/10

Runtime: 3 hrs 32 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial LOLITA is a wicked satire of sexual obsession, sadomasochism, and fetishism. When mild-mannered professor Humbert Humbert (James... Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial LOLITA is a wicked satire of sexual obsession, sadomasochism, and fetishism. When mild-mannered professor Humbert Humbert (James Mason) arrives in the small town of Ramsdale, New Hampshire, he is immediately set upon by his landlady, Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), and her adolescent daughter, Lolita (Sue Lyon). Although Humbert gets involved with Charlotte, it is Lolita with whom he becomes obsessed. When Charlotte sends her daughter away to summer camp (the aptly named Camp Climax), Humbert becomes consumed with jealousy. He finally takes Lolita out of camp and heads out alone with her. He is pestered along the way by Clare Quilty (played magnificently by Peter Sellers), who threatens to expose him. But nothing can break the hold Lolita has over Humbert. From the opening credits sequence--a close-up of a man's hand (with a wedding ring) carefully polishing a young girl's toenails--Kubrick's biting, darkly comic LOLITA burns with sexual energy as it follows the debasement of an intelligent, worldly man in a series of carefully choreographed long takes that boil over with psychosexual tension. Although little physical contact is shown, Kubrick hints at it beautifully, especially in the drive-in scene in which both Charlotte and Lolita grab on to Humbert's hands. And yet given the serious nature of the subject matter, Kubrick pauses long enough to include a riotous slapstick scene of Humbert and a bellhop struggling over a cot as Lolita sleeps quietly on the bed, as well as Quilty playing Ping-Pong with a seemingly endless supply of balls. Stanley Kubrick's highly controversial masterwork is a fascinating look at pedophilia and sexual taboos that lead to obsession and murder. [More]

Starring: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Sue Lyon

Starring: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Sue Lyon, Jerry Stovin, Gary Cockrell, Diana Decker, Marianne Stone, William E. Greene, Shirley Douglas, Lois Maxwell

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: James B. Harris, Stanley Kubrick
Producer: James B. Harris
Composer: Nelson Riddle

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 23, 2007

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Lolita

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
03/09/08
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Far too subtle in its sexual intentions to reach what the novel was after.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/08/08
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Lolita, with its acute mix of pathos and comedy, and Mason's mellifluous delivery of Nabokov's sparkling lines, remains the definitive depiction of tragic transgression.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/03/07
Jon Fortgang
Channel 4 Film

A fascinating if problematic early film from Stanley Kubrick, perhaps the most obsessive of the great auteurs of the 1960s.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/08/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Where Nabokov was witty, Kubrick is sometimes merely snide, but fine performances (particularly from Peter Sellers, as the ominous Clare Quilty) cover most of the rough spots.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/08/07
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
02/01/07
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews

Kubrick keeps the elegant black-and-white film big and luxurious and barren and sustains the cold humor.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
10/16/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Far more satisfying than his later works (one hesitates to call them mere movies).

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

A wonderful evocation of the book's humorous aspects, but -- censors be darned -- very little of its passion and sexuality.

comment Comment
11/10/05
Dan Fienberg
Zap2it.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/22/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Classic Kubrick treatment of controversial best seller.

comment Comment
06/25/05
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

No review available.

comment Comment
02/01/05
Jonathan R. Perry
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

No review available.

comment Comment
01/08/05
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies

Mason and Sellers (as Quilty) are standouts, but the film is too long by half, with much of the novel’s sly eroticism excised.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
11/04/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

Fascinating pitch-black comedy with many memorable moments

comment Comment
07/16/04
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

Creepy and blackly funny.

comment Comment
06/12/04
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

No review available.

comment Comment
04/21/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

The centre does not hold

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment 2 Comments
03/16/04
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

No review available.

comment Comment
03/01/04
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
 
 
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