Summary

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2008)

Stanley Kubrick is regarded as one of the greatest directors of his time and even past. Making only a few films in his career, which spanned four decades, ended with the mystery drama thriller "Eyes Wide Shut." The films length spans a little over two and a half hours, and within it is the modern day classic Kubrick masterpiece. The look of it is very "Kubrick" because of how it was shot. Not simply just the lighting, but also the film stock as well. As a special request to Eastman- Kodak films, the company remade and released the film stock that had been out of print that had that look Kubrick desired. Lit mostly with practical's, such as Christmas string lights and assorted lamps around the room  Aided only by the occasional china lantern or highly diffused light. The story itself revolves around Dr. Bill Harford (played by Tom Cruise) and his encounter with a cult of sex fiends. Even though the movie possibly could have easily been told in less amount of time, it is very unlike Stanley Kubrick to not show every detail both prior and post the main event of the film. To get a greater sense of whom Dr. Bill Harford and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) we spend the greater portion of an hour and a half learning about what kind of people they are. What sort of fantasies, and lives they live on the outside of their marriage. Not to take any of this lightly, it was not uncommon for Kubrick to spend much more time than any other director would have on a scene  making sure he captured every little last detail, and that he got what he came there to get. Such a scene takes place between Bill and a friend of his Victor Ziegler (played by Sydney Pollack). Taken in one location, that of Victor's billiards room took roughly a month to film. Any other director would have been told to move on by studio heads because it was a waste of budget. Sadly however only a few days after the movie was shown to the studios Kubrick passed away.