Dream-like sexual weirdness

Rating: Null/10 (17 January 2014)

Stanley Kubrick's last film before his death. A film that blurs the borders of dreaming and challenges us to question the differences between reality, dreams, fantasies and nightmares. Sometimes it's just as weird to be awake as it is to dream.
Dr. William Harford - played brilliant here by Tom Cruise in a role that might very well be the best he has ever done - flees from his house after hearing a jarring confession from his wife. And thus begins the long night that would haunt him forever.
What makes this film so perfect is Kubrick's vision. The pace is so agonizingly slow, the plot so nonsensical, that had it not had one of the best directors of all time at the steering wheel, it would fallen straight to that pile of artsy borefests that only film majors ever watch. But it doesn't. Yes, it's slow, yes it makes no sense whatsoever, but yet it works. I remember glancing at the clock after the film had been going on for a while and I remember asking "Has it really been two hours already?" Because it didn't feel like it had. The film is hypnotizing. It pulls you in and as Harford wanders around New York, you remain strangely calm about the whole situation. You don't question, why was that character there, why did that scene happen. It just does, it's cool.
Part of that calmness comes from the technical side of this film. Kubrick didn't want to use any studio lighting, so instead the crew relied mostly on the various Christmas decorations that they places strategically all over the sets. This gives the film a slightly blurred, soft and ethereal quality, not unlike if you were dreaming the whole time. The soundtrack is also amazingly powerful, underlining each scene with a heavy hand, but never in a way that feels forced. One of the few films where I noticed the sound cues and didn't hate them.
I already praised Tom Cruise, but it's also worth noticing that despite this film having huge piles of gratuitous nudity, despite the infamous orgy scene, despite all these weird sexual situations Harford finds himself in, the sexiest thing in the entire film is his wife (Nicole Kidman) leaning against the doorframe in her nightclothes or peering over her glasses. That's talent on Kidman's part and the fact is helped alone by her and Cruise's marriage at the time. They have fantastic chemistry together and Kidman provides us with the needed reality and anchorage.
Pretty much the only thing keeping this film from becoming one of my personal favourites is the fact that the ending drags. Not a huge amount, but it does. At that point the musical cues have begun to grow on your nerves, the slow scenes have slipped back into being agonizing and you just want the film to give you its final words and leave you to ponder its mysteries. Instead we get one final conversation before the ending scene between Cruise and Kidman. It doesn't ruin the film for me, but it's a shame that such a great film falters just before the finish line.
Still, it's an amazing film. Heavily sexual, but not in a sexy way, it's a journey like you've never taken before. Riddled with phenomenal acting performances, with fantastic production values, ironhand directing and unforgettable scenes, it's a film you're going to remember. May it haunt your fantasies and deepest nightmares.