Eyes Wide Shut (tidbits)

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!