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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kubrick at his overrated swan song..., 29 Aug 2007
It seems that previous reviews are as interesting as the film itself, people tend to have extremely mixed, divided reactions to it. I have to admit that I am ambivalent too. During 3-hours replete with Kubrickesque moments, sometimes I hated it and thought it was nothing but a garbage; sometimes I got a bizarre enjoyment and thought it was a masterpiece. It's just like riding a roller-coaster. Neither a garbage nor a masterpiece, it has a strange kind of enchantment that nailed me off the couch until the very last credit rolled.
Kubrick films are not easy pills to swallow. They pose lots of questions but give little answers. He likes to confuse viewers utilizing lots of red herrings, creating dreamlike ambiances, and leaving tremendous amount of wiggle room. The result: they are open to various interpretations and misunderstandings. They ask for a contribution from the viewer. "Eyes Wide Shut" is no exception. My interpretation is that the film is not about jealousy, emotional infidelity or promiscuity.
These are by-products of a bigger theme. Rather it is about the domination of élites in the society that manipulates, even enslaves lower classes with their power and wealth. Especially, their mistreatment and perception of women just a "possession" creates these kind of complications in relationships. Look closer at Ziegler character, famous orgy scene and parallellism between Alice and red-haired hooker, you'll get what I mean.
In terms of technical aspects, "Eyes Wide Shut" is a pure Kubrick film, an exemplar of his glorious cinematic style: having dreamlike quality, bizarre narrative structure, lots of vivid colors, exquisite reverse & forward tracking shots and impeccable use of lights and wide angles.
On the other hand, thematically it is the least weapon in his arsenal: lots of plot holes and unexplained points (e.g. identity of dead hooker & her self-sacrifice is unclear); weak characterization (Kidman delivers an outstanding performance, but Cruise and Pollack are miscasts. Both have no integrity, no intimacy, no believability); and absence of necessary sub-plots. The final relies too much on Ziegler's overexplanations and this is another weak point. Also, it is unnecessarily long (due to poor editing). Unfortunately, all these flaws undermine the power and intended effect of the movie.
Here, Cruise proves again and again that he is just a movie-star, not an actor.
Overall, not a bad film at all. Interesting and worth watching.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whatever you expect from Eyes Wide Shut forget it..., 15 Jan 2001
By A Customer
Eyes wide Shut ,like all Kubrick films, should be judged by it's own merits. According to all the ill informed(unofficial) hype that preceeded it's release we were to expect a lurid erotic vehicle for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Nothing could be further from the truth, most of the stories stemmed from the fact that much of the media (perhaps with the exception of the Evening Standard's Alexander Walker) was so frustrated by the lack of information on the film that they decided to do what they do best and start filling in the blanks with anything they fancied. This, after 2001:A space odyssey, is without any doubt Kubricks finest moment. I promise you that the film will be nothing like you've been led to expect. I really don't want to give much away ( I believe a review should cover the quality of a movie,not it's plot) but much of the film takes place on one long night after Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) has just been through a mesmerising revelation with his wife(Nicole Kidman). The film fills a space in the subconscious often neglected by modern films and we get carried deep into the heart of something truly compelling by the main character who is played with an eye opening honesty by Mr Cruise. I'll have to admit that I have never been a fan of Tom Cruise,often even avoiding his work because of his association with all that awful american apple pie stuff, but this is the most astonishing 'solo' performance I've seen since Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant. This film proves to be Cruise's best work and I am now a believer in his talent, with this film he has shifted his axis and I hope his priorities in movies. Kidman is also very 'real' although her screen time is limited to crucial key moments. The camerawork and editing is the usual tight and specific high standard you get from any Kubrick picture and all the music and sound equally efficient. This is an important DVD release for several reasons: The high standard of lighting demanded by Kubrick would probably be wasted on VHS (all DVD owners know about the importance of picture clarity) and much of the more eccentric shots which give the movie it's dreamlike quality deserve a decent medium to give them depth. This is also a movie which is quite demanding on the audio front. There is masses of dialogue which needs the DVD format to help you hang on every word (and believe me you'll need to pay attention to whats being said) and some very sonically demanding musical sections (I guarantee you'll be fixated with the groundbreaking acoustics on chapter 16 of the disc) so much so that I know of several home cinema retailers using this disc for demos on some of their systems. I have been fascinated by this movie since seeing it on it's cinema release and I haven't had any negative feedback from anyone I know who's seen it. As I said,have no expectations other than this is a film from a true craftsman,no one ever came close to Kubrick for pure quality and as Steven Spielberg accurately mention on his interview in the special features section of this top DVD title,once you start watching a Kubrick movie,you cannot turn it off until the very end. Get this disc,I promise you won't be disappointed.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exquisite visual journey into one man's sexual subconscious, 10 Mar 2000
By A Customer
Twenty years from now "Eyes Wide Shut" will be just as alive, brilliant, unsettling and confounding as it was when it first released in 1999.Because the mark of a great film is one from which newly-found appreciation and interpretation can be gleaned in subsequent viewings, "Eyes Wide Shut" is a great film that works on numerous complex psychological levels. Narrative structure is invisible. Music, dialogue and visual spectacle predominate and are symbolic of deeper meaning. The viewer enters the world of Stanley Kubrick, a world where reality as known to the filmgoing audience is non-existent -- non-existent even within the audience's own common understanding of suspension of disbelief in movies. The Kubrick world is distant, cold, mechanical and disturbing. Kubrick's Manhattan (filmed in the UK) has a opposite pace to the New York most know or hear of -- Kubrick's Big Apple is very slow -- and disorienting to the audience, to the point of creating in the viewer the same feeling of alienation and discomfort that Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) has in his nocturnal adventures. When Harford is unable to control his circumstances or grasp meaning in several of the bizarre events he witnesses, his psychological fibre is challenged. And so is the audience's. "Eyes Wide Shut" is a beautiful vision for adults. Sometimes the macabre themes in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" are present here. Other times, the delusions and mysteries in David Fincher's "The Game" -- particularly that repetitive singular piano note. But at all times the look, feel and haunting atmosphere of this film is Kubrick, Kubrick, Kubrick. One of the interesting aspects of "Eyes Wide Shut" is that its big-name actors (Cruise and to a lesser extent Nicole Kidman) look so much unlike themselves from other films. From Cruise and Kidman's vacant expressions, we seem to understand that in "Eyes Wide Shut" we are in an altogether different human universe. Watching this film again and again on DVD where the elements that made it so powerfully great in the cinema (its excellent colours, music and lighting are enhanced tenfold) will be a treat and a refreshing analytical pleasure. "Eyes Wide Shut" is a colourful visual puzzle that provokes viewer thought and solution the more it is watched. In the strangest sense, it's a cinematic equivalent of the ol' Rubic's Cube. "Eyes Wide Shut" is Kubrick's Cube -- a spellbinding mystery with many questions, answers and dozens of ways to get to the end of its rainbow -- and you will be confused, frustrated, enlightened, satisfied or thrilled with the conclusion (or solution) that you reach.
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