Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Eyes Wide Shut / USA / 1999

There seems to be a level of delicate personal contribution to this film, whether it’s the visual mentions of Kubrick’s earlier films or the ominous tension between Cruise and Kidman’s married characters, that adds a feeling of inevitable End—the director’s death, the couple’s divorce. Supplementing this is a strange, almost ironic insinuation about the sexuality of Cruise’s Bill Harford; considering the actor has been dogged by similar rumors for years, much of the storyline feels too close and intrusive to be simply coincidental. (These uncertain suggestions are epitomized when, for no apparent reason, Bill is harassed on the street by a group of young men.)

Whether these suggestions mean anything is debatable, though the trail to that conclusion is certainly negotiable amidst Kubrick’s Jodorowskian aesthetics—vibrant color, nude women presented as fleshen works of art, and shapes scattered along walls and floors.

by Adam Balz | Source: DVD
23 Aug 2007 2:19 PM | Comments (1)

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1. Rumsey / 23 August 2007 / 7:24 PM / URL

   Whether these suggestions mean anything is debatable, though the trail to that conclusion is certainly negotiable amidst Kubrick’s Jodorowskian aesthetics—vibrant color, nude women presented as fleshen works of art, and shapes scattered along walls and floors.

   This is a brilliant observation, and something I’d never realized in re-watching either this or some Jodorowsky. It’s especially apt because both films (The Holy Mountain in the case of Alejandro) thrive upon desexualized images of flesh—flesh in compromising circumstances or, err, positions.