Change Your Image
Daniel-107
Reviews
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Animals in Chains
What a frustrating and magnificent film! Here again, as in all of Kubrick's other movies, humans are coping with their animal urges by keeping them in chains, but there's always a weak link. Dr. Bill is a true mechanical man, despite his job as a healer of bodies. But he can't suppress dat ol' debbil. Even worse, he can't forgive his wife Alice for her fantasied infidelity. A study of men and women -- the woman holds the high ground because of her compassion, and her honesty, which includes her acceptance of her animality. The script's last word is K's last hope for returning to our lost essence. God, those skin tones! Kubrick's use of available light and high speed film raises primitive technique to sublime sophistication. But that's the point, isn't it. The naked ape creates stunning mechanisms -- laws, social norms, movies -- in a hopeless attempt to purify human existence. Kubrick grins sardonically, but can't stop joining in. Here he creates another elegant and sad monument to the ridiculous human experiment. A fitting wrap to the career of a genius.
Rien ne va plus (1997)
Another of Chabrol's minor masterpieces
Has Chabrol ever made a film that's anything less than a minor masterpiece? Not that I've seen. Of course, here in the US we have to struggle to see them all, and I haven't. But movies like Les Cousins or Landru or Alice and now this one stay with me. His direction is so agile, so full of wit and surprise. This old master has all the youth and spontaneity of today's new-realists, plus the warmth of a lifetime of experience. I couldn't stop chuckling at his droll sleight-of-hand as he led us through the twists of his story -- and kept us in the dark about his two main characters' relationship. And he wrote it too!
The Matrix (1999)
Bondage and Freedom
Not that the film needs any help -- it's a masterpiece -- but still it does help to see Bound by the Brothers W. They lay out their themes there, plain to see. Trust, for one. How can two people trust each other? The Ws say, if they feel they're the same person. Bondage and freedom, for another theme. But that's developed more in The Matrix. Here we have a captive humanity held in check by the AI -- the government, essentially (in Bound, the oppressor's name is Caesar) -- and freed by the forces of Zion (a spiritual reality that frees the mind from illusion). Neo and Trinity, who look alike (the One and the Three, reminiscent of "one God in three persons"), share a trust and a love that gives them the final liberation. The conceptual structure builds out from there with remarkable discipline. Now, can the Ws keep this up for the two remaining episodes of the trilogy?