10月30日
Eyes Even Wider Shut
In Stanley Kubrick's cinematic universe reality, dreams, order and insanity progress on distinct, intersecting planes. Whether he was depicting an absurd, chillingly real war room in"Dr. Strangelove," the disturbing but oddly sexy ultra violence of an Orwellian future in "A Clockwork Orange," the siren call of insanity in "The Shining," or the hyper fantastical yet authentic Vietnam War in "Full Metal Jacket," life was a surreal work in progress – nearly an ambiguous joke that veered from hilarious to sexy to terrifying, sometimes within seconds.
And attempting to understand order, or how any system designed to make our universe more rational or safe seems fruitless. I love how Sterling Hayden approaches this predicament at the end of "The Killing." He watches his life literally fly away on an airport tarmac and bitterly spits one of cinema’s greatest last lines: “Eh, what’s the difference?”
Which brings me to the final line of Kubrick’s frequently misunderstood "Eyes Wide Shut" in which Nicole Kidman states rather flatly...
--posted by Kim