Eyes Wide Shut

Rating:
Summary: sleepless in new york city- Kubrick's climactic masterpiece
Review: Those who have criticized Eyes Wide Shut as an inelegant misinterpretation of 'Dream Story' have misunderstood both the adaptions necessary for an objective visual medium and Kubrick's own daunting artistic stamp. Eyes Wide Shut inverts the psychological dialectic of Schnitzler's novella into a dark metaphysical mosaic. The dilemma for the viewer is not to reconcile the dream state logic to the visceral reality, but to fathom the perception of the protagonist as he is enveloped by anger, jealousy and fear. Kubrick creates an integrated tapestry of the malignant manifestation of deformed desire. The streets of New York form the backdrop of danger and threat; every venality is accepted and bartered here. Distractions or interruptions invade every possibility of intimacy in the film. Sex and death are juxtaposed in a sustaining motif. Like a hall of mirrors, look alike characters, distorted fragments of Bill and Alice, appear throughout the movie.

Victor Zeigler seems a potent, savage stage manager. His final ultimatum to Bill holds the entire plot. Like peeling layers of an onion he unmasks the competing emotions and possibilities of the events. Nothing being said here can be taken at face value. Both are well aware of a subtext. Ziegler casts down his comments with avuncular condescension, like an encyclical from a throne. He offers a recourse to facile rationalizations (as Kubrick does to the audience), but this masks a core of corruption and ulterior motive. He is not offering a choice. Bill is lucky to be alive. The film slips, for the moment, its filters of dream, fantasy and deception and comes into sharp moral focus. Is the good doctor really worried about the fate of his friend Nick, or the nature of Mandy's death. No, his inquiries go straight to the obsessional suspicions which drove him into the night. The frightening, tantalizing implications of his own experience are the limits of his conscience. He accepts Victor's frail reassurances and leaves.

Bill finally finds the prospect of his wife's infidelity both tormenting and irresistibly intoxicating. The final scene seems to indicate that all pretensions have evaporated. Something primitive, overwhelming has taken over, the same force that has propelled his odyssey from the beginning. There are a series of revelations (to the observant and receptive) as the film progresses, but they do not disentangle the ambiguities. Kubrick involves his audience along with his characters in an encroaching awareness, like an engulfing flood.

This director never resorts to trivial, happy endings. His bleak vision of the human condition is the binding element in his films. All paths lead to the same nihilistic conclusion. Nothing is resolved of Alice's taunts, sexual dissatisfaction and secret desires Where, then, can this marriage go but abandonment to the shadows and creatures which inhabit every corner of Kubrick's city? He leaves just enough, though, to reclaim a glimmer of grace and hope, an escape portal from the labrynthe. In this, EWS brilliantly synthesizes the essence of his previous films.

The indistinct borders between fact and illusion become moot to the theme. Bill's desperate sojourn through this modern mythological underworld forms a classical tableau, where the contradictions of impulse and character ARE the projected reality. This should be the great director's most enduring achievement. The cast is uniformly excellent. Kubrick's cinematic genius is most obvious in its stunning visual impact, but Eyes Wide Shut's real power in its subtlety, and the indelible and disturbing impression it makes on the mind.

Rating:
Summary: Forget the Hype (and Reaction to the Hype)
Review: ... If you can, set this (...ill-advised hype) all aside andwatch the movie. It is a flawed film in several ways: in the castingof Cruise, in Kubrick's direction of Pollack, in the pacing of the pivotal billiards scene, etc. But, from its title to its free use of German Romantic fairy-tale conventions, it is a DREAM story, and must be viewed in that light. It is, in my opinion, one of Kubrick's most profound endeavors. Eyes Wide Shut says things about the human condition--about the subtle charade of human sexuality, about each person's precarious situation between life and death, about meaningful and meaningless personal encounters--that you probably have never seen or read before. There are new ideas here. Where you expect heat, Kubrick gives you chilly banality. Where you expect titillation, he serves a vague, distilled creepiness. Finally, as in all his films, Kubrick asks disturbing, relentless questions (the final scenes between Cruise and Kidman are NOT the effete, middlebrow sermonizing that some feminist critics have alleged). Leave the Hollywood machinery behind and look at the film itself. You were expecting Otto Preminger, but you are getting Poe and Kafka and Novalis--and Kubrick.

Rating:
Summary: IT'S A BIG SELL OUT!
Review: THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE IS THAT NICOLE KIDMAN GETS NAKED FOR THE FIRST TIME.RENT IT BEFORE BUYING IT AND IF YOU DO LIKE IT COPY IT.THIS MOVIE IS JUST AS BORING AS THE SIXTH SENSE.IT'S A VERY SLOW MOVIE.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealized potential
Review: It is unfortunate that Stanley Kubrick who has given us so many brilliant films ("Spartacus"; "2001, A Space Odyssey"; "A Clockwork Orange"; "The Shining"; "Full Metal Jacket"), should end his career with this one. The biggest problem with this film is the screenplay, which is all the more perplexing since Kubrick helped write it. It is hard to comprehend how such a masterful filmmaker could miss the mark by such a wide margin.

Let me begin by saying that the technical aspects of this film were superb to the point of being superhuman. Kubrick's camera work was pure genius. The color and lighting were impeccable; incomparable in their impact and effect as well as their beauty. Anyone who has seen this film should go back and watch it again and just notice the way the sets are lighted, how the shadows are cast, how the rooms in the background are bathed in soft blue with contrasting colored lights perfectly splashed in to heighten the effect. As far as the sound, Kubrick can do more with the well placed single note of a piano than most directors can do with an entire orchestra.

That being said, the script can only be described as grossly disappointing. There were really two stories here. The first is the story of Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice (Nicole Kidman) Harford's relationship. The second was the story of Bill's sexual odyssey resulting in his crashing of an orgy for the rich and famous. Too much was made of the first and not enough of the second. This should have been a psycho-sexual film noir suspense thriller. The elements were there for a good one. Bill's penetration of the sordid inner circle of sex games of the powerful could have been a riveting thriller with proper follow through. But instead, Kubrick chose to deflate this storyline with the unsatisfying dialogue between Bill and Victor (Sidney Pollack). He then returned to the Harford's relationship, which was a character study in "who cares". He ends the film as if their relationship was the point, which left the film pointless.

Other than her ability to provide sexy set dressing, Nicole Kidman was utterly superfluous in this film. Worse yet, this was probably the most wretched performance of her career. Kidman is not without talent and has given us some excellent performances ("Malice"; "Dead Calm"). Her performance here was tentative and strained, however. There were times when she was so unnatural in the delivery of her lines, one would have thought she was aphasic.

Tom Cruise gave an excellent performance portraying a difficult and tormented character. It was somewhat of a departure for him to play a character that was so pent up and emotionally torn. He hasn't taken on a part this difficult since "Born On The Fourth of July". Usually he plays the straightforward macho type; more action than depth. I was pleasantly surprised by his ability to rise to the challenge of this character's complexity.

I gave this film a 7/10. The filmmaking was a 12, but the story was never developed to its full potential. It would have been interesting to see what Alfred Hitchcock would have done with this story. Perhaps Stanley and Alfred are talking about that right now.

Rating:
Summary: Eyes Wide Shut
Review: They say Kubrick died so that he wouldn't have to see this film. I can only hope this is the case. If you are mired in middle class virtues and have never ventured far from home, you may find this enlightening. Otherwise, this is an ode to the non-adventurous, the non-artistic, and will confirm you in all your beliefs that what you have settled for in life is fine and good. Unless you are very young, or have learned very little in the course of your life, you will learn nothing from this film. As a great fan of Dr. Strangelove, 2001, and A Clockwork Orange, I can only say that we are all allowed mediocrities in our lives, some earlier, some later. I adore Kubrick's classic earlier work. Unfortunately, this film takes no risks, and therefore does not exist, even remotely, in the same class. Don't waste your time. Remember his greatness...and forget this film.

Rating:
Summary: ThEYES Tightly Open
Review: In the arena of bestial slogging that most humanoids inhabit, the ISSUES raised by this film are of great importance. The head Slogger has proclaimed it so! Forgive me Stanley, but its 2AM... do you know where your genitals are?

Rating:
Summary: NOT JUST FOR KUBRICK FANS!
Review: I've noticed that most of the reviews on this film have all been from Kubrick fans who make it sound as though you have to be an enthusiast of Kubrick to understand and fully appreciate this film. Well I disagree, I would not class my self as being a "Kubrickite" having only seen a couple of his films including the Shining and Clockwork Orange (not even liking the latter) yet still found this a thoughtful, intelligent film.

I think it is a film most people can relate to in someway. Okay, I admit it is a bit strange and every five minutes you will be asking yourself "what ... is going on?". It's even a bit scary in places and has the most haunting theme tune since halloween. You probably will not even decide whether you liked it or not until a few hours after it has finished because it is one of those films which leaves you thinking. But I definately reccommend it; besides, even if you don't like the story there's always Kidman & Cruise in their birthday suits(amongst plenty of other nudity) to keep both sexes attention. Seriously though, it does offer a lot to the viewer who gives it a chance, so if you have a good level of concentration and don't need your films to be self explaining constantly I really think you will like it

Rating:
Summary: Do Yourself a Favor: Rent before you buy!
Review: I didn't see it onscreen and daringly bought it in DVD format. However, my SIXTH SENSE (subtle promo here) said, "Rent it before you open it." I'm glad I did. I expected a picture with eroticism, kinky behavior and, well, soft pornographic filming. It was a little erotic, the impression of kinkiness was attempted, but I've seen harder porn in a Disney movie.

I'm the type that likes plot with my erotic filming. I'm not into anything which earns the XXX rating. But I thought this movie would be a little more "open." The moment you think you will see something, clever camera angles cover the "good stuff". I found "Basic Instinct" and "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" a bit more sensual. Neither are pornographic, but can get you going.

This is only my opinion. However, I strongly suggest you rent it first.

Rating:
Summary: The Final Chapter
Review: What more of wonderful ending to a great career. Kubrick's films are the least understood by all but the best at the same time. From Clockwork Orange to Lolita to Eyes Wide Shut there was always the element of sexual interest within all the characters. You cannot look at this film from the surface like others; there will be no in-your-face action-packed scenes that you get from all the other Hollywood like films here, you have to become involved in the almost sick but true twisted turns and bends of human thought and rhetoric.

Here again you can see the perfectionist of Kubrick flow into all of the scenes especially in the Ballroom Dance where the set was illuminated by the hanging Christmas lights not only authenticating the lighting of the scene but giving it a softer and more seductive feel with the hint of the orange glow. This especially coincides with the dialogue between "the Hungarian" and the "American."

Hands down to the crew who did not taint the film too much after Kubrick's death, we all now that Kubrick probably would have changed a few scenes some so you sort-of have to view this film as it were a rough draft to a deeper novel that he left for us viewers to finish.

Rating:
Summary: thought provoking
Review: The pace of 'Eyes Wide Shut' is slow, but it has to be. The bulk of the plot happens inside the minds of the main characters, and if the director picked up speed the viewer would have little idea what was going on. Contrary to my expectations 'Eyes Wide Shut' is not a sensationalized soft-porn flick. Yes we do see naked bodies but they are not central to the plot. This movie is an in-depth study of the nature of the mind and how powerful it can be. How it can seduce us and control us with, in the case of our characters, jealousy, paranoia and imagination. The same principle could easily translate to any other of the passions and for this reason I found the film both interesting and thought provoking. If I can find any serious fault in the film it would be how Nicole Kidman portrays her character. Nicole is a beautiful woman but she mars her beauty by making such an effort to appear sexy and seductive. She reminds me of your average sixteen year old girl, convinced that the whole world is looking at her and analysing her beauty - is her nose too big? - to small? is she too fat? - too thin? The fact is, and any mature woman knows this, people don't see beauty, they absorb it. And it isn't easy to absorb beauty when it's shrouded in a phoney front. I would have enjoyed her, and the movie, more if she had simply been natural.