Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

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MyNameCriterionForum
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#51 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:10 pm

=; :D :) :(
Last edited by MyNameCriterionForum on Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#52 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:51 pm

Wasn't there once a member here named goofbutton? Did he explode and then get banned, or am I confusing him with the countless others who've exploded and been banned?

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MyNameCriterionForum
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#53 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:28 am

Haven't I been good this time, Santa?

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essrog
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#54 Post by essrog » Tue Dec 16, 2008 1:24 pm

Mr_sausage wrote:Wasn't there once a member here named goofbutton? Did he explode and then get banned, or am I confusing him with the countless others who've exploded and been banned?
You are not confused. As I recall, goofbutton's crowning achievement came in the Tokyo Olympiad thread (alas, in the forum's previous incarnation) in which he basically called anyone who ever played, watched, or thought about sports a knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnon. The funny thing is, I think he got banned for something else.

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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#55 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:53 pm

Yeah, yeah, that was me, I admit it.

I'm a good boy this time, though, I swear. Check my posting history.

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Noiretirc
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Re:

#56 Post by Noiretirc » Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:43 am

leo goldsmith wrote:
davidhare wrote:But Nicole stinks
I simply don't understand this reaction at all. Her "fucking hysterical laughing fit" is really weird, but there she's supposed to be stoned. Her two monologues, however, are utterly mesmerizing and central to the film. I can think of few examples of better acting anywhere at all.
Agree. I cannot understand the Nicole-In-EWS bashing. She basically does a Jack-In-The Shining routine for half of the film, don't you agree?

How about "Lynchian" elements? Did Kubrick ever publicly express anything regarding Lynch? Sometimes I forget that this is a Kubrick film. It's obviously wrapped in blue velvet, and really quite wild at heart. (Sorry.) :oops:

This film has really grown on me over the years. I thought everyone hated it nearly a decade ago. So many complain about pacing, but Shining and 2001 are surely paced slower than EWS. I think there is a lot of humour in EWS which seems to disorient many. (Milich's place, desk clerk scene, etc). And we aren't supposed to like anyone in the film, are we? Show me one character in the film who isn't seriously flawed or devious?

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Oedipax
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Re: Re:

#57 Post by Oedipax » Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:52 am

Noiretirc wrote:How about "Lynchian" elements? Did Kubrick ever publicly express anything regarding Lynch?
Apparently he made statements to the effect of Eraserhead being one of his favorite films.

oh yeah
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#58 Post by oh yeah » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:50 pm

Love this film, though it's hard to explain exactly why. It's just so damn... mesmerizing. My second or third favorite Kubrick, depending on the weather. It definitely does has a Lynchian feel to it, doesn't it? Sort of like a weird combo of Lynch, Buñuel and perhaps Hitchcock. But still completely Kubrick.

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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#59 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:58 pm

Lynch, Bunuel, Ophuls, Resnais

HarryLong
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#60 Post by HarryLong » Tue Jan 06, 2009 6:07 pm

The Spirit of Christmas in Eyes Wide Shut
Lynch, Bunuel, Ophuls, Resnais
The lighting (cold blue contrasting with orangey-red) is pure Bava ...

moviscop
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#61 Post by moviscop » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:01 pm

I wondered why many people are bitter about this being Kubrick's final film. Apart from the fact that he won't be able to give us any more masterpieces to talk about, I think people didn't think it was a film to "end" on. I have done a lot of research on the man both academically and personally and have found that one of the most prominent themes in his films is the dehumanizing nature of humanity. A theme like that really doesn't have an ending. If Kubrick were alive today I'm sure he would have a lot of insight and would continue making brilliant films.

Eyes Wide Shut is my favorite Kubrick film not because it IS his best film, but because it moved me the most out of the rest. Many people have written on his dark and often pessimistic view of humanity as his films represent. In 2001 it was the possibility of AI overpowering human intuition, in Clockwork Orange it was turning man into machine, and in Full Metal Jacket it was about the effects of war on the mind.

It is both logical and interesting that Kubrick's final "hoo-rah" was a film about something as taboo as human sexuality. I was really moved by it.

This article has always been a favorite of mine. It isn't a thorough read, but very interesting.

Props55
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#62 Post by Props55 » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:05 pm

Hadn't really thought about the lighting Harry, but the Euro-Horror vibe is all over the masked orgy. And that snap-zoom to the babe in the gallery looks straight out of KILL, BABY KILL!

oh yeah
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#63 Post by oh yeah » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:56 pm

moviscop wrote:Eyes Wide Shut is my favorite Kubrick film not because it IS his best film, but because it moved me the most out of the rest.
I know what you mean. Not sure why, but EWS really is just incredibly moving. It's one of those films where I always have to watch the entire end credits because I'm just sitting there in awe.

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Dr. Snaut
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#64 Post by Dr. Snaut » Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:22 am

I thought EWS was Kubirck's only film where he allows the audience to empathize with the protagonist (antagonist).

I liked how the film had a "stream of consciousness" structure, lacking any particular plot.

I also enjoyed how Kubrick alluded to epic Greek poems and stories, especially during the initial Christmas party.

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MyNameCriterionForum
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#65 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:11 am

I always thought the lighting recalled Sirk at his melodramatic height, though Bava is a good call, as well.

And I think all of Kubrick's characters are sympathetic, and all of his films move me in ways that aren't exclusively intellectual, etc. I find 2001 profoundly sad, for example.

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Noiretirc
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#66 Post by Noiretirc » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:29 am

MyNameCriterionForum wrote:I always thought the lighting recalled Sirk at his melodramatic height, though Bava is a good call, as well.

And I think all of Kubrick's characters are sympathetic, and all of his films move me in ways that aren't exclusively intellectual, etc. I find 2001 profoundly sad, for example.
I think Strangelove is the funniest film ever made.

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Antoine Doinel
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#67 Post by Antoine Doinel » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:08 am

I don't find Cruise's character sympathetic at all. He's paranoid and borderline misogynistic. I love Eyes Wide Shut, but the film is definitely more about Cruise's flaws and how they lead him down a largely unnecessary road.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#68 Post by Mr Sausage » Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:57 pm

And that snap-zoom to the babe in the gallery looks straight out of KILL, BABY KILL!
...by way of The Shining, since there are a number of snap zooms used to emphasize horrific moments in that one.

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Magic Hate Ball
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#69 Post by Magic Hate Ball » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:26 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:I don't find Cruise's character sympathetic at all. He's paranoid and borderline misogynistic. I love Eyes Wide Shut, but the film is definitely more about Cruise's flaws and how they lead him down a largely unnecessary road.
I don't think any of the characters are supposed to be particularly sympathetic. Kubrick said "I'd like to make a film about doctors, because nobody likes doctors", and so we have it.
Mr_sausage wrote:
And that snap-zoom to the babe in the gallery looks straight out of KILL, BABY KILL!
...by way of The Shining, since there are a number of snap zooms used to emphasize horrific moments in that one.
Kubrick was very good at the crash zoom, and the zoom in general. He either used it really slowly or really quickly, and never in-between like everyone else did at the time. Even today the zoom is still pretty taboo.

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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#70 Post by MyNameCriterionForum » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:57 am

Yeah, maybe "sympathetic" is the wrong word for Bill Harford, or most of Kubrick's characters. I think what I meant was that none of his characters necessarily - automatically - deserve our contempt. Harford is, to my mind, a bit like Barry Lyndon: less ambitious, certainly, more oblivious, but still sort of bumbling his way through the social ladder. If he could be faulted for anything, I'd say it was lack of imagination. Who trusts their wife so thoroughly? etc.

As for the zoom -- good points all around. I do remember a lot of snickering from the audience when it occured in EWS, though (even when I saw it in an "art" theater years after its initial release). I think Hanyes really utilized the Barry Lyndon slow zoom in/out approach for Safe, to very good effect -- instead of distancing or placing a character in a landscape, I think it emphasized the nature of disease/examination/etc. that Moore's character was experiencing.

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Magic Hate Ball
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#71 Post by Magic Hate Ball » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:56 am

Bill Harford is such an enormous boob that if more focus had been put on his blatant dullness the film would've been a comedy. Of course, it's not, it's played more from his perspective, but you see it from time to time. Notice that the cab he takes from the jazz bar to the costume shop apparently drives in a circle, as you can see the jazz bar reflected in the window.

Of course, if you want to talk slow zooms, I think nobody did it quite like Robert Altman. Granted, I haven't seen [Safe], but the lengthy optical shots in Nashville are just perfect.

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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#72 Post by HarryLong » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:47 am

the Euro-Horror vibe is all over the masked orgy.
I've been meaning to watch EWS again for many years & this thread prompted me to finally get around to doing so. I only got up to the masked orgy section last night when I had to call it quits or risk slumping over on my desk at work today. I'll keep your observation in mind. I'll also be considering whether on not Roger Corman brings any influence to bear on that scene ...
And that snap-zoom to the babe in the gallery looks straight out of KILL, BABY KILL!
Maybe Tim Lucas' book wasn't such a quixotic undertaking after all ...

Props55
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#73 Post by Props55 » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:48 am

Re: The Kubrick Zoom

As Magic says Kubrick utilized either very slow or very fast "snap" zooms. I believe the "snaps" first appeared in STRANGELOVE mainly in the macro closeups on the instrument panels. I don't recall any earlier systematic use and he seems to have found them stylistically out of sync in 2001 (except again on hardware like HAL) but they return full force in CLOCKWORK and continue to be a significant camera strategy. Even the stately BARRY LYNDON uses them at several junctures, mainly in the battle scenes.

So as Mr. Sausage points out they were in full flower by the time of THE SHINING. Their use in EWS reminded me of Bava (and Euro-Horror in general) mainly because of the visual context, i.e. dark opulant manor house full of mysterious hooded figures lining paneled corridors. So although the baronial decor is not ravaged by centuries of neglect as in KILL BABY, KILL, the "snap" to the nude in the gallery brought the Bava to mind. I was perhaps subliminally cued by the previous use of the dominant orange/blue (interior/exterior) gels that Harry described.

And speaking of color, does anyone know of any pool (or billiard) game played on a crimson felt table? In Zeigler's library/game room the table is bright red, the lights above are green and the windows continue with the cobalt blue gels seen throughout the film. The whole effect is to continue the "Christmas Tree Lights" motif seen throughout the film only in a stylized rather than literal fashion.

BTW I reviewed EWS last night projected eight feet high in full aperture and it looked marvelous in that ratio. I found it difficult to image some set-ups in 1:85 with just a staring face unrelated to the soft focus backgrounds. The way the actress playing Nathanson's daughter nervously toyed with her pendant necklace before declaring her love for Harford was as much a part of her performance as her vocal and facial effects.

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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#74 Post by HarryLong » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:45 pm

does anyone know of any pool (or billiard) game played on a crimson felt table
Snooker ... I think.
(I think Cushing & Lee play a billiards game - whether Snooker or something else - on a red felt table in THE SKULL.)

Props55
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Re: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

#75 Post by Props55 » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:56 pm

Thanks Harry! That crimson felt stuck out like a sore thumb and for a brief moment I thought it was an affectation on Kubrick's part. Snooker, eh? And leave it to you for an example with Cushing and Lee! Good to have your voice here. I've enjoyed your recent posts!

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