Spielberg’s Homage Kubrick in 14 Shots Through A.I.

There was a time, not so long ago, and yet you might be too young to remember it, when Stanley Kubrick was alive. Even if you didn’t know his films, you would know him by name, because of his uncompromising career that led to so many scandals.

Or at least that’s how it felt to me from my small French town, where I built my film culture thanks to one movie theater and the equivalent of a Blockbuster. Nobody introduced me to Kubrick’s world, but I knew who he was. And I remember when he died, even though I was only 12 and the internet wasn’t there to tailor news to my preferences; it was general public knowledge.

I also remember how the death of Kubrick, and his friendship with Spielberg were used to market A.I. when it came out in 1999. A.I. was dedicated to Kubrick because Kubrick spent over two decades trying to make the film, and abandoned the project, giving it to Spielberg who managed to bring it to the screens worldwide only after Kubrick’s death.

Candice Drouet, from Really Dim, went through A.I., which always felt to me like an odd ball in Spielberg’s filmography, and found 14 shots that show how one master paid homage to another. This made me look back at the film in a different way, and it feels like it served a whole new different purpose.

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