This film is definitely not a masterpiece.

Rating: 5/10 (20 July 1999)

I was very disappointed in Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, -- perhaps because I was a great admirer of Kubrick's films such as 2001: Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. The symbolism in the film was too obvious to be thought-provoking, and Kubrick's attitude toward the material was puerile and puritanical at the same time, generating a sense of cognitive dissonance. As the initial shot of the film as well as the deployment of the movie-star couple indicates, the director at first seems to underline the voyeurism of the film medium, audience as well as of himself. Well, however, as the film progresses, his critical stance toward the film medium disintegrates into his somewhat childish fascination with the "beauty" of the nude female bodies in the Hollywood film industry(all of which reminded me of the naked mannequin beverage dispensers in A Clockwork Orange), which is nevertheless hidden under the facade of a stern moralist. It is a sexist film, indeed. (Well, which of Kubrick's films were not sexist?) However, the most disturbing aspect of this film event (what else can you call it?) to me was many critics' response toward this film: some of them even called this minor incomplete film as a masterpiece. Their awe of this outstanding film-maker obviously pulled a blind over their eyes. Eyes wide shut can be described as the condition of these critics whose inferiority complex makes them intellectual coward of themselves. As a recent, more thought-provoking film hinted at, we are in a matrix-like system that has been created and controlled by the media. These unthinking critics are the ample evidence of this false-reality-creating machine.