Eros
Three world-class directors put their auteurist stamps on this anthology of films dealing with sex, desire, and obsession. First, and best, is "The Hand," Wong Kar-Wai's ravishing drama set in 1960s Hong Kong. Chang Chen stars as an apprentice tailor who becomes enthrall to an imperious, tragically downwardly mobile courtesan (Gong Li). During their first meeting, she takes a hands-on interest in his sexual initiation, explaining that the memory will inspire him to make beautiful clothes for her. Steven Soderbergh lightens the mood with "Equilibrium," starring Robert Downey Jr. as a very anxious 1950s adman relating a curious dream to a very distracted psychiatrist (the always wonderful Alan Arkin). Last, and sadly, least, is Michelangeolo Antonioni's "The Dangerous Thread of Things" about an estranged couple, a tryst, and dancing nude on the beach. A world away from such towering masterworks asL'Aventura, it's elusive and pretentious, almost like anSCTVparody of 1960s foreign films. But here, for the more prurient viewers, is the earthy, gratuitious nudity and frolicking sex for which one might desire in a movie titledEros.--Donald Liebenson