On E List of Movie Reviews

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Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 3/06, 4/13

EyeWS
3/06: Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut features lavish cinematography and is sensual.

I love the buildup of the conflict and the mysteriousness that surrounds the plot, and the performances rendered by the cast help it to be sexually arousing.

Tom Cruise, once again, is marvelous. He has a gripping moment when his character, Dr. Harford, suddenly found out what happened to the hooker and had a change of heart before going further. Then, the doctor has a moment of truth when he realizes he doesn't belong in the underworld. Hence, the film is best described as man's search of himself through a rude sexual awakening. If not for his idiotic pothead wife, the journey won't have happened.

All in all, Eyes Wide Shut is a fabulous erotic picture that's enriched with masterful direction and tasteful cinematography.

4/13: Sometimes, it's a good idea to rewatch a film when enough time has passed to see if the original judgment still holds.

Unfortunately for Eyes Wide Shut, it doesn't pass the test. I realize now how superficial and boring it is. Stanley Kubrick is famous for making his pictures methodically slow and dead with no feelings. This one is no exception to the rule.

I remember in A Clockwork Orange how women were constantly naked all the time and portrayed as sexual objects. Kubrick would do the same thing for Eyes Wide Shut. Many think of it as a sexy erotic picture, but I find the more naked women are, the more boring it is. Hence, "less is more" can't be any more true in this case. Ironically, Kubrick contacted the master of erotica, Zalman King, yet he still failed.

Although Tom Cruise gives a great pensive performance, it's Nicole Kidman who's the worst. The way her character laughed and thought she's the exalted one makes me want to tell her she's a gold digger and a failed art gallery owner with nothing going for her. In fact, Dr. Harford is better off without her by being with somebody else more deserving because what I've seen out of him is through and through success.

Of course, I can characterize the whole trip as a confusion for the doctor about his standing in the marriage and whether or not it's been a fraud. Ultimately, the film fails to prove a point and instead makes a showy grandiose display of opulence and beautiful interiors.

All in all, Eyes Wide Shut is the last work of Stanley Kubrick's career which pretty much describes his filmmaking style in a nutshell: beautiful, boring, slow, mechanical, unrealistic, and pointless.