Eyes Wide Shut?

 

Simon Callow, Who Is Not In Eyes Wide Shut

I finally got around to watching Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and so far I like it. I recall when it first came out, some people were unhappy because they did not know what it was about or what it meant or some other kvetch they had.

So far, I like it. That surprised me. I just sort of assumed that the film would be a self-indulgent impenetrable maze on the order of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and would require ignoring the critics and searching out the local head shop guy to - like - tell you, dude, what it was all about... dude.

I am half way through, and it is pretty good. There is enough nudity, sex, drugs, and something else... something... something... oh, story. Just enough story, too. I like story.
(By definition, Story is that cinematic item which The Tree Of Life does not have.)

Of course, I had watched parts of Amadeus earlier, and that has always had too little to recommend it, except a young Simon Callow, who by the way is thriving... I unfortunately always remember him as having passed, but it was his character in Four Weddings And A Funeral that has gone on.
(Amadeus also has that Hapsburg crack about "... too many notes, Herr Mozart." which I enjoy.)

So after Amadeus, I was in the mood to sit back and say Franz-Josef-style,  "Go ahead, Herr Kubrick. Amaze us!"

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