luka

Well-known member
End of the things I love about it is that the city isn't real it's a studio which makes it feel very strange
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
That's a good example of what I'm thinking about with Kubrick -

At the time of release, critics slated Kubrick for shooting everything in a studio, the general view was that he'd become so isolated from reality that he could only make a very unreal film where the city didn't resemble a real city at all.

But subsequently, Kubrick appreciators saw this artificiality as intentional and powerful, the critics had just missed the point.

And I wonder if those appreciators are also apologists.

OTOH naturalism isn't something he EVER went for.

I should say that I haven't seen EWS for years and years but when I did watch it I liked it a lot. I particularly remember the scene when Sydney Pollack reveals that Tom Cruise ISN'T fantasising, it's all real. I always find those scenes where apparently benign people turn out to be evil very disturbing.

 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Literal-minded in its sex and brutality, Teutonic in its humor, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange might be the work of a strict and exacting German professor who set out to make a porno-violent sci-fi Comedy. Is there anything sadder -- and ultimately more repellent -- than a clean-minded pornographer? The numerous rapes and beatings have no ferocity and no sensuality; they're frigidly, pedantically calculated, and because there is no motivating emotion, the viewer may experience them as an indignity and wish to leave. The movie follows the Anthony Burgess novel so closely that the book might have served as the script, yet that thick-skulled German professor may be Dr. Strangelove himself, because the meanings are turned around.

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0051.html
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
As a Tom Cruise movie it doesn't rank up there with Mission Impossible 3,4 and 5. But it's alright.
 

luka

Well-known member
Eyes Wide Shut is very clear-eyed about the way in which power always contains two aspects, simultaneously: excessive mystagogic staging and banal normalization are two sides of the same coin. In other words, in retaining Kreider's social-economic reading, we should not abandon the sublimely ridiculous hyperfictions of the Monarch conspiracists.

I always use this film together with metropolis, the factory becoming the pagan God devouring sacrifices, as examples of these two dimensions being simultaneously true, the mythic and the quotidian.
 

luka

Well-known member
luka's favs obviously have their take on it too:

The Hidden Messages in “Eyes Wide Shut” - https://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesa...sages-in-stanley-kubriks-eyes-wide-shut-pt-i/

“Eyes Wide Shut” was promoted as a steamy, suspenseful movie starring the “It” couple of the day: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. While the actors were prominently featured in the movie, it is everything around them that told the true story of “Eyes Wide Shut”. Stanley Kubrick’s attention to detail and symbolism gave the movie an entire other dimension – one that cannot be seen by those who have their eyes wide shut. This multiple-part series will look at the hidden symbolism of Kubrick’s final film.

I'm pretty sure this is how I discovered vigilant citizen
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
Don't leave us hanging.

not sure if i told this story already but:

i was invited to an “art performance“, together with a friend and a friend of him. we didn’t have any info. when we arrive we realize the address is just a regular apartment on the ground floor. we ring the bell and a girl wearing a white toga opens. she scans us and slams the door shut again. we wait a bit, not sure what to do and after a few seconds she opens the door again and tells us we are allowed in. the apartment is completely white, everything, from walls to ceilings to furniture. there’s about 15 people inside and they are all wearing these toga’s, but they’re half naked, boobs and genitals everywhere. they are all young and beautiful. one of the girls tells me to sit next to her, and she then starts to tell how she had a mental breakdown some weeks ago in the supermarket and it was then that she met a guy called “papa“, who helped her and took her into his family. at one point they all sit down in a circle and start singing a song about this “papa“, they all know the lyrics perfectly. they don’t have names but call themselves by the letters of the greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, etc). i wanted to roll a cigarette but was not allowed to use my own tobacco and had to use theirs. well, it goes on a bit longer and more of them tell me stories about “papa“. i thought it was all a joke then one asks me if i want to meet him. i was like sure why not. so a girl takes me to the corner of the room and it looks like they just drilled a hole in it, a ladder is going down into a basement. it’s dark but there are some candles spread around. she takes of her toga and is now completely naked. then she takes of my shoes, my socks, pants and so on. until i’m naked too. she doesn’t say a word during all of this. actually i don’t know why at that point i didn’t say or do anything. curiosity maybe? she then blindfolds me. she takes my hand and guides me through the basement, we stop and she washes my feet and hands with warm water. she then puts her arms around me and is doing some sort of breathings exercises. i’m sweaty and a bit afraid. we move further and at one point she tells me to sit down, i do and she sits herself behind me and gives me a massage. then i suddenly hear a low male voice, asking me “who are you“. i’m guessing this is “papa“ (i’m still naked and blindfolded). well i’m really a bit frightened now and he’s asking me some more questions until he says i’m ready for the ritual with the candle. tells me i can pick any of the family members to help me with this ritual, i tell him i forgot their names but would prefer if one of the girls could help (no intention, i’m just thinking about my safety, i’m not the strongest). so another girl comes down, takes my hand and we move further inside this basement until she tells me i can take of the blindfold. in front of me is an altar with a painting of a guy (i guess “papa“?), the room is lit by about hundred candles. well the story is a bit of an anti-climax because i’m now being told i can do a wish, carve the first letter of that wish into a candle and light it. i’m escorted to the ladder again, put on my cloths and go up. in order to not look like panicking i stay there for another fifteen minutes before i sneak out.

the whole thing lasted around two hours, not a single person laughed, or blinked or gave me any hints that this was theater. i didn't know what was real or fake anymore, i thought i was the crazy one.
 

Leo

Well-known member
that's insane! did you ever discuss it with the friends who came with you? what happened to them?
 

craner

Beast of Burden
not sure if i told this story already but:

i was invited to an “art performance“, together with a friend and a friend of him. we didn’t have any info. when we arrive we realize the address is just a regular apartment on the ground floor. we ring the bell and a girl wearing a white toga opens. she scans us and slams the door shut again. we wait a bit, not sure what to do and after a few seconds she opens the door again and tells us we are allowed in. the apartment is completely white, everything, from walls to ceilings to furniture. there’s about 15 people inside and they are all wearing these toga’s, but they’re half naked, boobs and genitals everywhere. they are all young and beautiful. one of the girls tells me to sit next to her, and she then starts to tell how she had a mental breakdown some weeks ago in the supermarket and it was then that she met a guy called “papa“, who helped her and took her into his family. at one point they all sit down in a circle and start singing a song about this “papa“, they all know the lyrics perfectly. they don’t have names but call themselves by the letters of the greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, etc). i wanted to roll a cigarette but was not allowed to use my own tobacco and had to use theirs. well, it goes on a bit longer and more of them tell me stories about “papa“. i thought it was all a joke then one asks me if i want to meet him. i was like sure why not. so a girl takes me to the corner of the room and it looks like they just drilled a hole in it, a ladder is going down into a basement. it’s dark but there are some candles spread around. she takes of her toga and is now completely naked. then she takes of my shoes, my socks, pants and so on. until i’m naked too. she doesn’t say a word during all of this. actually i don’t know why at that point i didn’t say or do anything. curiosity maybe? she then blindfolds me. she takes my hand and guides me through the basement, we stop and she washes my feet and hands with warm water. she then puts her arms around me and is doing some sort of breathings exercises. i’m sweaty and a bit afraid. we move further and at one point she tells me to sit down, i do and she sits herself behind me and gives me a massage. then i suddenly hear a low male voice, asking me “who are you“. i’m guessing this is “papa“ (i’m still naked and blindfolded). well i’m really a bit frightened now and he’s asking me some more questions until he says i’m ready for the ritual with the candle. tells me i can pick any of the family members to help me with this ritual, i tell him i forgot their names but would prefer if one of the girls could help (no intention, i’m just thinking about my safety, i’m not the strongest). so another girl comes down, takes my hand and we move further inside this basement until she tells me i can take of the blindfold. in front of me is an altar with a painting of a guy (i guess “papa“?), the room is lit by about hundred candles. well the story is a bit of an anti-climax because i’m now being told i can do a wish, carve the first letter of that wish into a candle and light it. i’m escorted to the ladder again, put on my cloths and go up. in order to not look like panicking i stay there for another fifteen minutes before i sneak out.

the whole thing lasted around two hours, not a single person laughed, or blinked or gave me any hints that this was theater. i didn't know what was real or fake anymore, i thought i was the crazy one.

This is amazing, I actually jumped out of my seat when the voice said "who are you"!
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
i took a flyer with me that was laying around, my guess is they spread these throughout the city hoping some strangers would bite.

foto.jpg
 

droid

Well-known member
Ladies are an essential asset to any cult leader. If I could get more ladies I could easily triple my acolyte count.
 
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