Johann
05-17-2014, 03:45 PM
I have both regular DVD and Blu-Ray copies of Kubrick's final film. It's taken me a long time to get around to post about it.
I used to think this was a Masterpiece, but I'm not so sure now. I still think it is Bravura filmmaking, it's Kubrick after all, but I'm not sure it's a masterpiece.
My loyalty to Stanley's cinema is ironclad. He is and was the Best of the Best to me. The greatest film director ever, and I lived during his time. That makes me happy. I lived at the same time Stanley Kubrick was making motion pictures. It's nice to know that.
Because my loyalty to Stanley's work is ironclad, I study him closer than others do, which is something I think he wanted- he wanted his films to be watched more than once, he wanted their themes to be relevant and interesting and topical. For generations. And hopefully they will. All signs point to it.
Eyes Wide Shut is apparently about married life, sex and fidelity and jealousy. But it's not. It's about something much more sinister, much more disturbing, than a wife telling her hubby in a stoned fit of anger that she lusted after another man while she was happily married, and would have went off with him in an instant if only he showed interest in her. That's the surface story, of how her hubby is horrified at this confession and must "act out" in revenge. How he gets tangled up in much more sinister shit than his marriage being at risk of fallling apart is the nut. And that "sinister shit" is as Real as a heart attack. That "secret society" Dr. Bill Harford bears witness to has a real-life counterpart, and Kubrick knew them inside and out. He was a part of them. Until he learned the truth about them. Then his films went from dark to super dark, super stark. It had to be that way. The world is stark. It is stark today. I would even say it's evil. The world I imagine this planet possibly being is a far cry from the reality. And Kubrick's imagination of what this world could be, based on what we know and can do as humans, was far different from the reality as well. He thought in global and philosophical terms, Stanley. He had a vast imagination. Here in Eyes Wide Shut he removes the cloak from the real power apparatus of this planet and leaves us, the audience, with a dilemma. How do we dismantle a power apparatus that owns all levels of media and power and money markets? How do we dismantle it? (or even recognize and convince others of it's existence?)
This is the biggest theme of any of Kubrick's films. He went out not with a bang, but with an Illuminati wrecking ball.
Murder, Sex, Deception. These three items are front and center in Eyes Wide Shut. They are the three main tools of mind control for the Illuminati.
R. Lee Ermey (who played Marine drill instructor Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket) says that Kubrick called him 2 weeks prior to the film's completion and said that the film was a piece of shit, that the critics were gonna have a field day with him, that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had had their way with him. That has a ring of truth to it, even though Ermey has been refuted by Kubrick's daughter and others. I always wondered why Kubrick chose to work with Tom Cruise. I learned recently that the Warner Brothers CEO made one demand for green lighting Eyes Wide Shut: that Kubrick hire a star. Warner brothers could smell the money with Kubrick and a "star". That explains the film poster too:
CRUISE
KIDMAN
KUBRICK
Who approved the marketing campaign for this film? I don't think it was Stanley. He was dead at the time.
I've seen the film many many times, and I know it's not complete. I know there are scenes missing. Possibly very important plot point scenes, but we'll never know. All we have is this dreamy, trumped-up film that looks and feels Kubrickian, but isn't.
Stanley had to bend to others, and dictators don't like to bend to others if they don't have to. It's a necessary evil if you happen to be a filmmaker. You have to be open to bending if you are a collaborator. Yes I called Stanley a dictator. That's what he was. A good one, actually. He was a General in his own Army, a good one, like Eisenhower. His ends always justified the means. There was little malice in his dictating, only craft. Only Art.
Eyes Wide Shut has some nice documentaries on the DVD as special features. THE LAST MOVIE is essential viewing for Kubrick fans. Jan Harlan and Stanley's immediate family members remember him fondly. It is sad to see. I feel for their loss. But what full amazing lives they had!
It ends with Christiane showing us the tree and burial spot of Stanley, telling us that they thought graveyards were ghastly places so she decided on the spot under his favorite tree.
I used to think this was a Masterpiece, but I'm not so sure now. I still think it is Bravura filmmaking, it's Kubrick after all, but I'm not sure it's a masterpiece.
My loyalty to Stanley's cinema is ironclad. He is and was the Best of the Best to me. The greatest film director ever, and I lived during his time. That makes me happy. I lived at the same time Stanley Kubrick was making motion pictures. It's nice to know that.
Because my loyalty to Stanley's work is ironclad, I study him closer than others do, which is something I think he wanted- he wanted his films to be watched more than once, he wanted their themes to be relevant and interesting and topical. For generations. And hopefully they will. All signs point to it.
Eyes Wide Shut is apparently about married life, sex and fidelity and jealousy. But it's not. It's about something much more sinister, much more disturbing, than a wife telling her hubby in a stoned fit of anger that she lusted after another man while she was happily married, and would have went off with him in an instant if only he showed interest in her. That's the surface story, of how her hubby is horrified at this confession and must "act out" in revenge. How he gets tangled up in much more sinister shit than his marriage being at risk of fallling apart is the nut. And that "sinister shit" is as Real as a heart attack. That "secret society" Dr. Bill Harford bears witness to has a real-life counterpart, and Kubrick knew them inside and out. He was a part of them. Until he learned the truth about them. Then his films went from dark to super dark, super stark. It had to be that way. The world is stark. It is stark today. I would even say it's evil. The world I imagine this planet possibly being is a far cry from the reality. And Kubrick's imagination of what this world could be, based on what we know and can do as humans, was far different from the reality as well. He thought in global and philosophical terms, Stanley. He had a vast imagination. Here in Eyes Wide Shut he removes the cloak from the real power apparatus of this planet and leaves us, the audience, with a dilemma. How do we dismantle a power apparatus that owns all levels of media and power and money markets? How do we dismantle it? (or even recognize and convince others of it's existence?)
This is the biggest theme of any of Kubrick's films. He went out not with a bang, but with an Illuminati wrecking ball.
Murder, Sex, Deception. These three items are front and center in Eyes Wide Shut. They are the three main tools of mind control for the Illuminati.
R. Lee Ermey (who played Marine drill instructor Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket) says that Kubrick called him 2 weeks prior to the film's completion and said that the film was a piece of shit, that the critics were gonna have a field day with him, that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had had their way with him. That has a ring of truth to it, even though Ermey has been refuted by Kubrick's daughter and others. I always wondered why Kubrick chose to work with Tom Cruise. I learned recently that the Warner Brothers CEO made one demand for green lighting Eyes Wide Shut: that Kubrick hire a star. Warner brothers could smell the money with Kubrick and a "star". That explains the film poster too:
CRUISE
KIDMAN
KUBRICK
Who approved the marketing campaign for this film? I don't think it was Stanley. He was dead at the time.
I've seen the film many many times, and I know it's not complete. I know there are scenes missing. Possibly very important plot point scenes, but we'll never know. All we have is this dreamy, trumped-up film that looks and feels Kubrickian, but isn't.
Stanley had to bend to others, and dictators don't like to bend to others if they don't have to. It's a necessary evil if you happen to be a filmmaker. You have to be open to bending if you are a collaborator. Yes I called Stanley a dictator. That's what he was. A good one, actually. He was a General in his own Army, a good one, like Eisenhower. His ends always justified the means. There was little malice in his dictating, only craft. Only Art.
Eyes Wide Shut has some nice documentaries on the DVD as special features. THE LAST MOVIE is essential viewing for Kubrick fans. Jan Harlan and Stanley's immediate family members remember him fondly. It is sad to see. I feel for their loss. But what full amazing lives they had!
It ends with Christiane showing us the tree and burial spot of Stanley, telling us that they thought graveyards were ghastly places so she decided on the spot under his favorite tree.