Nicole Kidman in the buff... orgies... Splendid.
Makes a safe change from all that corrupting
movie violence. Time to jettison the bullet
hole-punctured, blood-splattered blockbuster-anorak
and dust off my dirty mac for Eyes Wide Shut.
Furtively I slither into the stygian den that
is the sleazy local screening fleepit.
Plot: Distinctly dodgy goings on in well-to-do
Yank society draw in a complacent but repressed
medic (Cruise) who sets about shedding his inhibitions
faster than a stripper on cocaine. The catalyst
for all this is his sudden insecurity about
maintaining the interest of his bored, pot-smoking
siren of a Missus Kidman). As Cruise and Kidman
really are man and wife, you find yourself wondering
exactly how much the art on the screen is imitating
real life.
Nicole Kidman is usually an excellent actress
but here she seems to overact, especially during
her confessional scenes. But she is great fun
to watch. At the beginning of the film, during
a flirtatious dance with a cultured Hungarian
cad at a party, Kidman was foxier than a vixen
genetically modified for supercharged foxiness.
And the verbal duel between them was, for yours
truly, more compelling than a thousand of yer
cartoon-violent scraps courtesy of the usual
Hollywood blockbusters.
Then there's Tom Cruise. Hmm. The Top Gun bratter
with the blinding MacLean's grin is back. In
one scene, where the wholesome one stayed up
well past his bedtime, I was surprised to see
stubble on his chin and presumed some makeup
artist had smudged it on with a mascara stick.
If you don't mind Cruise (I was was being unfair,
his performance was not so bad) this film is
thoroughly absorbing. The glowing hues helped
to add a touch of warmth and humanity to the
film but Kubrick's stuff, from what I have seen,
is always strangely clinical and this is no
exception. But his films are also
good.
The best part of three hours was spun away most
agreeably. There are definitely rough edges:
for example surely there was no need to try
to tie up the loose ends. That ridiculous American/Hollywood
fear of uncertain and non-happy endings wrecks
so many films. Happy endings are like sweet
tea: too often they make for an antagonised
yours truly. I am not implying that this ending
is necessarily happy. It's just rubbish, so
bad it's worth seeing just to see how bad it
is.
Despite the ending this film is nearly a masterpiece
and is definitely worth seeing. It seems like
the sort of film that will be interpreted completely
differently by different people. Its irksome
that an artist like Kubrick should buy the farm
while the likes of Joel Schumacher, Kevin Cosner
and their fatuous ilk should live on to continue
churning out the juvenile crap that Hollywood
chokes our cinemas with these days. Here we
have an increasingly rare example of an intelligent
Hollywood film. It's even artistic. The cinematography
was masterful, music haunting, script was stimulating
and out of the ordinary and the lighting was
a dream. Oh and did I mention the orgy? It's
not particularly erotic and isn't meant to be;
its pretty old fashioned looking with religious
rite overtones; and it's brilliantly weird.
From
the grave Kubrick inspires others to make decent
films that are not aimed at dumb, spoiled teenagers.
Add your comment to this page
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| From: |
Stephan | Subject: | 2002-10-15 13:00:48 |
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| From: |
Foxy | Subject: | 2003-03-21 04:27:35 |
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