Eyes Wide Shut

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Policar

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Wow...what a strange movie. Not Kubrick's best but certainly an ambitious and fascinating project. I wasn't wild about Tom Cruise's performance nor Nicole Kidman's--they both seemed uneasy--but the movie was overall pretty solid.

Interesting cinematography, too. Apparently, they brightened the image in post to two stops above what it was shot at so that they could shoot with almost entirely natural light. The lighting was indeed pretty odd, although the mixing of blues and oranges in certain scenes was very Kubrick-like.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I love the mixed color temps in the bedroom scenes. Very beautiful. I happen to love this movie, I think it was a great story, ambiguous to the point where you HAVE to make your own decisions about the film. I liked the performances from Cruise and Kidman, they were unsettling, like the plot (and score for that matter.)

There is quite a debate as to whether or not Kubric actually finished the fil himself before he died. Many say that there are small problems that he would have scrutinously fixed.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

The last line was NOT what I was expecting one bit. I thought it was a good movie, though. Above all, it was brave film making, but I think Kubrick got a little too crazy and a little too brave at times as his career went on, since Dr. Strangelove and Clockwork Orange have a wonderfully sharp focus, whereas Eyes Wide Shut (and A.I....which I didn't like), seemed a bit too ambiguous but mostly somewhat silly, self-important, and pretentious.

Also, in the end (as some reviewer pointed out sort of), the morals are: don't mess with strangers, don't have sex with prostitutes or you'll get venereal disease, don't cheat on your wife, don't smoke pot, and definitely don't take heroin or cocaine.

For such a dark and ambiguous movie, it sure does have strong, clear, surprisingly puritanical morals.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I didn't get that at all.

http://members.tripod.com/~lovepile/ewsx.html

Perhaps you'll find that to your liking? I know I did. It breaks the whole movie down into the ideas that the original novellete was going for. I found that after reading it I had a better appreciation for the film.

I think AI would have been FAR different if Kubric had been able to get his hands on it.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I picked up on some of the stuff that article says while I watched the film, but reading it definitely helps me appreciate it more.

I still think that the movie isn't as good as the concept behind it, but whatever. Still pretty impressive and pure Kubrick.

Cruise's performance wasn't that great although it was sufficient. I suppose having troubles with his wife and being called gay may have hit too close to home for him since both he and Kidman seemed uneasy at times, beyond the uneasiness they should have expressed.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I think it's meant to show a normal life with extremely normal and happy people, and how--just ouside of their "normal" thoughts (and just outside of their "normal" lives) there's a horrible, messed up, world, ready to swallow them up.

Bill comes close to disaster over and over again, but he makes it through virtually unscathed, although the same can't be said for those around him.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

But at the same time, he is curious about it, and embraces it... interesting.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

This was a great movie. Pure Kubrick. I read somewhere that after watching a porn flick Kubrick remarked to a friend that he could make a great porno with the right budget. I suppose that EWS was that porn flick. I've also read that Warner Bros. digitize actors into the final cut to block some of the sex scenes. This is something they did after Kubrick died.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I believe that part of the reason this fim gets such a bad rap is that it makes people uneasy. It deals with issues that people would rather not face. And when people feel uneasy they tend not to be in a frame of mind to like or enjoy something.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

I think the reason it get's such a bad rap is that it just sucks as a movie; on that note KUBRICK might be the most over-rated filmmaker in history. His films as a whole are just plain bad. I never got the 'hype' around Kubrick.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

Ditto.

But it's all a matter of taste.  Some people like long, drawn out, tedious, pointless* films.

Dan

*But someone always comes along to tell you that there was a point...you're just too unsophisticated to understand it.  :)

But at least we got to see Nicole's butt.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

[quote author=David Jimerson link=board=movies;num=1103400467;start=0#13 date=12/31/04 at 11:02:14]I find Leelee far more fascinating.[/quote]

Well, I would, too...except...well...growing up, my Sister was always called LeeLee, so....it just feels weird.

Dan
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

[quote author=John Hudson link=board=movies;num=1103400467;start=0#11 date=12/31/04 at 10:23:02]I think the reason it get's such a bad rap is that it just sucks as a movie; on that note KUBRICK might be the most over-rated filmmaker in history.  His films as a whole are just plain bad.  I never got the 'hype' around Kubrick.[/quote]
WHOA.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

[quote author=mino link=board=movies;num=1103400467;start=15#15 date=12/31/04 at 12:28:59]Kubrick is God >:([/quote]
No.

But a great filmmaker.

And Eyes Wide Shut is a very moral film.
 
Re: Eyes Wide Shut

[quote author=GenJerDan link=board=movies;num=1103400467;start=0#12 date=12/31/04 at 10:56:29]But at least we got to see Nicole's butt.[/quote]
She is such a fox.

Hmm, Nicole Kidman or Penelope Cruz... yeeeaaaaah... I never quite understood that...
 
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