Eyes Wide Shut

also, it is one of the funniest movies i've ever seen

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Haven't seen Eyes Wide Shut, actually.

kubrick's is ruined by peter sellers mainly: haha i tht lyne's worked bettah becuz the day i am sympathetic to jeremy irons is the day i exfoliate my legs w.nitric acid!!

I think Kubrick is very humorous. EWS = essentially a comedy, as noted above. In fact, I would say most of Kubrick's movies are in some way humorous. Antonioni is mostly insufferable, except for L'avventura, which is a masterpiece.

As for Kubrick being great, what does it take for a director to be great? One great film? Kubrick has two: Barry Lyndon and 2001.

but I haven't seen the a bird->a plane and don't know why it happens.

i quite like the bit where hal is killing the boring spacemen, but sadly the wrong robot wins

i like the weird glow he gave new york: nicole k is pretty good too, tho shelly duval is still the only woman SK actually ever met, i think (except for his daughter who wants a bushbaby)

haha yes mark see lolita again - surely some new level of meaning to be gleaned there, as you must be about the kid's age by now

BONNNNNGGG

BONNNNNGGG

BONNNNNGGG

BONNNNNGGG

Her delivery has definitely gotten more arch and affected over the years, to the point that if you’re not highly invested in the content, it’s practically unlistenable

She used to get criticised a lot online for not ennunciating properly and has overcorrected. Can't win.

The podcast is a treasure obviously but I forgot how Longworth hits all her “t”s “EroTic eighTies” .. frankly it’s not just that, her whole Chef John intonation drives me to distraction. but i will listen for the info :)

It's close enough to an incantatory delivery that I look forward to listening

(Which means it'll be a good match for Kubrick)

Roffle. I roll with it, it's fine! Met her years ago well before the podcast started, she's a good sort.

If you join her patreon you can get transcripts, for those of you here who find it so horrible TO HEAR A WOMAN SPEAK.

I've always liked her delivery. She also has a very wry sense of humor.

I haven't given her podcast the attention it deserves. I'm streaming the sex, lies and videotape ep.

The series she did on Polly Platt and the one on Dead Blondes were especially good.

if you don't have the 2.5 hours free to watch EWS then just watch the video for Laura Branigan's "Self Control" which is the same plot and many of the same shots but is like 5 minutes long, predates EWS by 15 years and has a really cool song over it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZtn9AwgfQQ

― jed_, Wednesday, 2 July 2008 01:31

lmao otm

Saw this for the first time today and it was much more watchable and good than I was led to believe, although there were several false notes.

Cruise has taken a beating itt for his acting but Kidman is worse, consistently too mannered. I guess pot smoking was new at the time of this film, because it wasn't portrayed at all believably.

Can I just complain about the "West Village" set - why do studios trying to recreate NYC always show a street that ends by running into a cross street, thereby forming a T-shape? That is not a configuration that really exists in NYC with possibly a few exceptions. Many old Hollywood films use a "NYC" backlot set with the same configuration - MGM maybe? Definitely the Universal lot was like this. You see it in TV shows right through the 1970s.

Nevertheless, the mystery and the surrealism of the film were overall quite captivating.

https://i.imgur.com/YWdTpPo.jpeg

why do studios trying to recreate NYC always show a street that ends by running into a cross street, thereby forming a T-shape?

Unacceptable. Just shoot in NYC ffs. But they couldn’t in this case because Kubrick was too afraid of flying there.

I don't think his fear of flying wouldn't have changed anything. With the way he worked, he wouldn't have shot on location, it would have to be in a 100% controlled environment like a soundstage.

I never bought the criticism against his decision to work this way. It reminds me of the story Truffaut told in the intro of his book on Hitchcock. “In the course of an interview during which I praised Rear Window to the skies, an American critic surprised me by commenting, ‘You love Rear Window because, as a stranger to New York, you know nothing about Greenwich Village.’ To this absurd statement I replied, ‘Rear Window is not about Greenwich Village, it is a film about cinema, and I do know cinema!” He could've said something similar about Eyes Wide Shut. Shooting a fabrication of NYC ultimately works in favor of the dreamlike nature of the film - having the night time surroundings feel unreal rather than allowing a documentary element to flow in was the right call.

Yeah, exactly. It’s a film about constructed reality on many levels.

I can buy that. Because at the same time they did get a lot of detail correct in their street set - specific lettering on signs, decals on newspaper stands etc. - which contributes an uncanny aspect to those scenes.

Parts of the film reminded me very much of Scorsese's After Hours. I wonder if that was an influence.

This New York has the same dream quality as the european(?) city in the unconsoled by Ishiguro imo.

Here’s a real corner you could see in this movie though tbf

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kk3oZ2NYeTxaxphE7?g_st=ic

He was nothing if not consistently deliberate in details that seem wrong (ie the impossible interior layout of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining). One detail in EWS that signals to me that we’re in a fantasy/imagined NYC is that the buildings are numbered sequentially on the same side of a street (36, 37, 38).

blog post on exactly this https://www.scoutingny.com/stanley-kubrick-the-shining-new-york-city-the-filming-locations-of-eyes-wide-shut/

Interesting. Between the blog post and the comments it looks like they're covering all the ways to look at this. Seems as if Kubrick and his sets are kind of like Hitchcock and his green screens - it's difficult to nail down their exact intentions, if any.

(Aside: someone online said the costume shop in EWS was based on the facade of Trash and Vaudeville in the the East Village and I thought "no it's not, it looks just like a particular storefront on West 8th St. - I've shopped there!")... and someone in the blog comments supports my take.

Getting the full-on Criterion overview:

https://www.criterion.com/films/34534-eyes-wide-shut

maybe finally time for me to get a 4k player

seems like there's quite a bit of controversy about the transfer! I'll withhold judgment until I see it, but some of the still images look great to me, with suitable grain and not overly crisp lights...so we'll see.

A Discord I'm on with some heavy film geeks were going on about the aspect ratio.

Good grain and nice colours to my eyes. Not as nice as the 35mm print that's been doing the rounds but you can't have everything.

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999) 35mm scan. 4K, one 5.1 audio track and 19 subtitle options. More info below.
Link: https://t.co/gqA10wQX8W pic.twitter.com/Nvggqf27x6

— kalasevsky (@kalasevsky) May 2, 2024

Él gets the Criterion nod.

https://www.criterion.com/films/33695-el

― Ned Raggett, Monday, August 18, 2025 1:30 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

about time!

― hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, August 18, 2025 2:05 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seeing way more chatter about it than Criterion releasing Eyes Wide Shut as well, that's for sure.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, August 18, 2025 3:14 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

An Eyes Wide Shut directed by Don Luis would've been a keeper.

― hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, August 18, 2025 3:32 PM

I got a panasonic and ordered this, Sorcerer, and Barry Lyndon today. RIP my wallet but I think it's gonna be well worth it.

Even tho I doubt my eyes can muster full 4K resolution these days, the UHD discs often pay much more attention to dynamic range etc, a much more film like experience for me. The 4K of ALIEN is particularly great.