Kent MOMI presents … HOT BRITAIN (a series of films appropriate to the season)
Considered “unfilmable” when Kubrick acquired the rights around the time of its U.S. publication, Kubrick and producer James B. Harris were compelled to tone down the paedophilic elements that were central to Nabokov’s narrative. The sheer unlikelihood of a Lolita movie being made near-contemporaneously with the novel’s publication was worked into the advertising campaign, with the poster trumpeting “How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?”.
In a piece celebrating the film’s 60th anniversary in 2022, film critic Jesse Hassenger wrote: “Though it keeps much of Lolita’s pain offscreen, it doesn’t exactly use her slightly raised age (14) to excuse Humbert’s fixation, nor does it feel like a powder-keg provocation ahead of its time. Kubrick prefers to flirt with bad taste by recasting sections of the movie as a dark comedy acting as a point of contrast that make its sadder moments all the starker. Sixty years on, Lolita remains a curio – one with the strange, unnerving power of a half-repressed memory.” Stand-out and manic performances by Peter Sellers, James Mason, Shelley Winters and Sue Lyon, as the ‘nymphet’”.
Doors open 5.30, for drinks, nibbles & classic cocktails. Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators. Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5pp to help us keep the lights on. Yearly tickets can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).