What I’m watching: I’ve been mining Netflix new offerings.

Filmworker

I’m not a huge fan of the work of the late director Stanley Kubrick. I’ve always found many of his films to be technically amazing, but cold, emotionless enterprises.

I recall how I saw the Oliver Reed film “Platoon” and in the theater were Vietnam vets who were overcome by their emotions watching the film. In contrast Kubrick’s Vietnam War film, “Full Metal Jacket,” didn’t elicit that emotion response when I saw it later.

Kubrick’s films always seemed to adopt the position of the dispassionate observer, recounting a story from a distance.

I’m sure Leon Vitali would disagree. Vitali is the subject of a new documentary on Netflix that is an amazing look not only at Kubrick, but also at a very odd relationship between two people.

Vitali was a successful young British actor who won a role in the Kubrick film “Barry Lyndon.” Vitali was so impressed with Kubrick that he left his acting career to work behind the camera for the director.

Saying he was an “assistant” is not enough, Vitali played a key role in Kubrick’s professional life by doing a number of wildly different things. For instance, Kubrick gave him casting responsibilities and in fact, Vitali cast the child who was the pivotal person in “The Shining.” it’s clear he was the director for the child, getting the performance from him that Kubrick wanted.

He learned film editing, color timing, the details of restoration and many more duties the perfectionist director would give him.

This film explores a man who described himself as a “filmworker” and his contributions, but also the relationship between the two men. The documentary filmmakers sought to explain why Vitali would give up everything – including a marriage and three children – to work with a man who frequently flew into rages at him.

The answer is never thoroughly explained, but Vitali seemed to have such respect for Kubrick as an artist that he considered it an honor to work alongside of him.

This is a fascinating film and is a revelation for any serious film fan or Kubrick enthusiast.

The Haunting of Hill House

Shirley Jackson’s widely acclaimed novel of the same name was adapted as a movie in 1963 – “The Haunting” – which has become acknowledged as a frightening and significant horror movie.

The new adaptation, a 10-part miniseries for Netflix, will not be seen as a groundbreaking film or a faithful adaptation of a praised novel.

It’s pretty much an inconsistent failure that seems padded to make a 10-hour series.

The mini-series simply takes Jackson’s idea of a haunted house named Hill House and uses the names of some of her characters. Little else survives into this new production.

So, judged on it own merits, the mini-series involves the story of a family haunted into adulthood by the events they witnessed at Hill House. Mom and dad (Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino) are house-flippers who buy Hill House with the intention of fixing the huge Victorian mansion up and making a fortune.

Hill House is definitely haunted, though, something the parents don’t seem to get – although there is plenty of evidence – but the five kids all know for a fact.

The story veers back and forth from today to 20 years previous in order to show why the kids, who are now grown up, are so damaged.

While there are some sincerely creepy moments, the final two episodes of the series are poorly written and fly against any internal logic the previous eight installments have set up. It is almost like the writers simply didn’t know how to wrap up the story and offered a bunch of narrative elements that aren’t successful or satisfying.

It’s too bad Netflix can’t simply offers its subscribers the original film instead of spending a bunch of dough on a miniseries that fails to tell a coherent story.