NP Re: EYES WIDE SHUT

[Michael D. Workman]

At 05:44 PM 7/21/99 -0400, you wrote:
>The thing is, that's arguable at best.  The hype was that the film was all
>about sex--particularly some sort of sex between the principals--but for
>many who've seen it, that turns out to have been hype.

Yes--I understand that it could be billed that way: the expectations would
be obvious to those who hadn't seen it, but when you get inside...hype or
hyperbole? It's a lure to the letdown, to the symbol of Cruise as film
"god." The secrets of creation revealed...the ideal man unmasked (and
hobbled before your very eyes). Look at your God *now.*

>To me, the film is much more about critiquing marriage, family, and home as
>refuge.  The concept strikes me as being of great importance to Kubrick, as
>indicated by his life and his work, esp. The Shining, A Clockwork Orange,
>2001, and Lolita.  I think it's even in The Killing.

Sure. And...there's more to it than critique, even. There is artistry,
after all. You could say his films were about deviance, human nature, evil,
the Unknown.

>I don't think the film does this particularly well.  And, as I suggested
>before, I doubt Kubrick was necessarily responsible for the final form of
>the film.

I would never doubt Kubrick's fundamental glee at fumbling the particular. 


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Michael Workman, Proprietor
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