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Comments
Ouch. That stung like a bee.
Even Heat??
Don't let Creasy hear you talking like that.
That says little about Mann more about you. You can call Mann a lot but uninteresting is not something I would call him.
This was my first viewing of this Stanley Kubrick film (his last) since its release in the theatres. I really enjoyed it at the time, and did so again today. Tom Cruise stars as Dr. Bill Harford & Nicole Kidman (his real wife at the time) stars as his movie wife Alice. They are a well to do upper middle class New York couple and on the surface seem happy. One evening they attend a house party thrown by one of Bill’s immensely wealthy clients. While alone both are individually & independently propositioned by attractive guests (a smooth talking suave Hungarian in the case of Alice and two very sexy models in the case of Bill), but their marriage vows stop them from taking it further.
The experience awakens carnal desires in Alice, and leads her to open up to Bill the next evening about a recurring sexual fantasy she has had about a naval officer she once saw in passing momentarily when the couple were on holiday. The lustful nature of this revelation by Alice (while under the influence of marijuana) shakes Bill’s previously sheltered sensibilities, and leads him on a night of kinky exploration through the underbelly of Manhattan. During his eventful passage through the streets of New York he is approached by several women (including the daughter of a recently deceased patient, a prostitute with a heart of gold & an underage sexually liberated daughter of a costume retailer) and also witnesses a haunting ritualistic masked sexual orgy in a secluded mansion. Most unnervingly, he is confronted with a ‘secret society’ (an early manifestation of the now ubiquitous 1%?) who operate in the shadows and pull the strings of power. The experience proves eye opening & overwhelming for the innocent Dr. Bill (who arguably was previously walking through life with his ‘eyes wide shut’).
All of the above is just window dressing ultimately. The film at its core is about intimacy, monogamy and the fear of losing a loved one. Despite all that he witnesses during his memorable night out, Dr. Bill is most haunted by the recurring image of his wife cavorting in her sexual fantasy with the naval officer she doesn’t even know.
This is quite a memorable film. It’s moody, surreal, atmospheric, and full of erotic symbolism & strange visuals. Tom Cruise’s squeaky clean, almost asexual image makes him quite credible as the naïve Bill Harford, whose world comes crashing down due to his wife’s disclosures. Nicole Kidman owns her scenes - her confession is a highlight of the film, and arguably more disturbing than the much ballyhooed orgy scene. That scene is indeed a classic one however, both in the way it’s filmed, lit and scored. As has been mentioned on this site, it most definitely has inspired scenes in later films, including Depp’s The Ninth Gate & Mendes’s Spectre but none come close to the original. The late Sydney Pollack is superb as Victor Ziegler, Dr. Bill’s wealthy patient who offers him some sage words of advice. Rade Serbedzija, Leelee Sobieski (whatever happened to her?), Vinessa Shaw, Thomas Gibson and Todd Field also have memorable small parts. It offers an interesting allegory on the super rich, sexual desire & power, and intimacy.
HIGHLY recommended.
You and me both. No other film has rewarded me so much view after view after view. Very, very cautiously optimistic for October.
This is on my to-watch-very-soon list. I'm not the biggest fan of Kubrick. His films rarely connect with me on a personal level the way those of some other directors do, but there is no denying his films leave an impression and for the most part are very worth watching at least once. Very curious about this final work he left behind.
According to Wikipedia, she stopped her career in 2012 to care for her kids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leelee_Sobieski
Too bad, but that's life, I guess.
I like Marisa Tomei and Billy Crystal. Not in this movie - I kind of want the time I spent watching it back.
I haven t seen them all, but for what it s worth, Manhunter isn t bad.
I'm not a Kubrick fan at all. His only film I enjoy is Full Metal Jacket and I've only seen it once. As a kid I liked watching Eyes Wide Shut but that was only because of the soft core porn that's in the movie. As an adult I don't really like it. I just didn't really get it, but then again I don't really get a lot of Kubrick's work.
But grown-up me understands that's not at all the point of the film. :D
Haha nice one
Seriously though that stuff is creepy in the film. I often wonder if there are similar cults out there.
Why do you think Kubrick was killed?
Kubrick was the master at creepiness, but not in the way you'd expect. He was a true artist of the medium, and when other directors shocked or stirred you with gore, he'd just present very sterile but uncomfortable imagery to set you off, or play very low audio humming underneath his visuals to create a foreboding sense of doom. The Shining has this in spades, as does the likes of Full Metal Jacket. He had a knack for portraying the human experience of going mad, either by your own demons, by war or another third party.
The score is atrocious and it's probably too long but there's a lot to enjoy here imo, mostly thanks to the performances and the brilliant, witty script, which I think really could have been something special if they didn't have to stick to the TB plot. I'd honestly rather watch this than quite a few EON films including TB. A fun self aware take on Bond and a much better sendoff for Connery than DAF.