Hey everyone, just a quickie for the holidays here. It wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t do at
least a little something. So Eyes Wide Shut is it. The thing is there’s been so much written and
said and hypothesized about the film that I don’t have anything of real value
to bring to the conversation. Instead
these are a couple of tidbits I noticed this last time through (this was my
third or fourth viewing).
1. Disgustingly rich doctor Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) drinks
the ol’ classic of the everyman, Budweiser, in two separate scenes. Not only does he drink one of the cheapest
and widely found beers but he also drinks it out of a can! I guess Bill sticks with what he’s
comfortable with during a very fucked up time in his life. It’s such a small detail but I love it.
Hard to tell in this scene... |
...but in this one you can see what he's crackin' |
2. Bill and Alice’s apartment is really cluttered. Every single table has a whole bunch of shit
stacked up on it. The thing is the place
doesn’t feel that dirty (maybe because there isn’t crap scattered all over the
floors?) but they’re a bit of a messy family.
You would think the place would be like a sterile perfectly kept museum
with it being in posh upper Manhattan. This
sorta falls in line with the Budweiser thing in that this is an attempt to make
this wealthy family relatable on some level.
It’s like see they leave crap everywhere just like you and me. I mean I don’t identify with them pretty much
at all but I totally appreciate the effort.
Look at all that shit on the table |
The dresser, the vanity and even the window sill has stuff on it |
A little difficult to see in this picture but if you watch the movie it's clear the bathroom is overloaded with toiletries |
3. The NYC streets seemed more noticeably like sets this time
around. They got the look and feel
pretty good in my opinion but at the same time it did feel like Bill was
wandering around the same two block area over and over. You could however chalk this up as more
evidence that the entire movie feels like a dream (or that it is a dream).
Amazing looking sets |
They fuckin' nailed it...except there's slightly less people than the real NYC |
4. Why did the costume store owner pretend to barge in on his
daughter and those two Asian Johns? He
could’ve given Bill his tux, cloak and mask without going into that other room. But was the owner pretending to find his
daughter with some dudes or did he not really know? Maybe he needed to go in that room for the
mask or the tux? Who knows?
What if Bill crashed the party in that kimono back there? Maybe they would've been cool with it and adopted that look instead of the tux and cloak thing. |
5. At least half of Tom Cruise’s dialogue is repeating the
previous line of who he’s currently in the scene with. I wonder if that was on purpose and means
anything.
"What if I told you it was all fake" "Fake?" |
There are so many other things I could bring up, like I love
how in the billiard room scene Sydney Pollack admits everything and nothing at
the same time, what was the point of that daughter character suddenly saying
she loves Bill after her father died, Harvey Keitel was originally cast as the
Sydney Pollack character but pulled out because of scheduling conflicts,
etc. With this picture it’s all up in
the air. It is whatever you want it to
be and that’s powerful filmmaking. This
is one of my favorite Christmas movies and also one of my favorite movie
movies. I hope your Christmas ain’t like
Bill and Alice’s. Don’t go wandering off
and sneak into an ultra secretive cult orgy extravaganza thing. I know it sounds like fun but it could cost
you your life, or at least make you feel real weird about what you just witnessed.
Anyway, Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all that
shit. Thanks for stopping by and taking
a minute with me. See you next year!
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