by morganwolf » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:16 pm
Superb thread. Thank you, Sweejak, and others, for so posting so many interesting tidbits. NICE WORK!<br><br>I'm a passionate Kubrick fan. As soon as EWS was released, I grabbed a friend and went to the movies. I was not disappointed - it has since become a personal favorite, so I bought the DVD. There are some special features worth watching. Notably, an interview with Nicole Kidman where she talks about her feelings for Stanley, her responses to his direction, and what it was like to do a film with her own husband. Kidman refused to talk about Kubrick's death and wept openly when pressed about the details. I 'sensed' that she had been very close to Stanley, and maybe knew more about his demise than did the public, but could not speak about it.<br><br>Interestingly, in the post EWS context, the whole Cruise/Kidman breakup was rumored to be about infidelity. Supposedly, Kidman became pregnant but it was not Cruise's baby -- she had an abortion to save his reputation (she was likely threatened into it by the Scientology goon squad), and he filed for divorce, which she did not contest. In the realm of Hollywood divorce and breakups, theirs was bizarre for her lack of defense.<br><br>I have no doubt that she was afraid for her life in those months after her breakup with Cruise. She retreated to home ground, Australia, and lived with family for a long time. On a subsequent appearance on Jay Leno, Kidman said she was feeling her old self again after spending Christmas in Australia, far away from the LA scene. She mentioned wanting to get out of the movie business eventually, to take an academic degree in philosophy, claiming that each role "takes something out of you" and that she could not imagine being an actress forever. (I'm glad to see her happy, finally. Is she still practicing Scientology? I doubt it. I am pretty sure she was running on Cruise control during their marriage.)<br><br>The most remarkable thing about EWS, for me, is the lighting, which is only possible to achieve by 'pushing' the film speed. The result is intense color saturation and capability of filming in low, available light. Gorgeous.<br><br>The Christmas tree motif was one stylistic choice that made me crazy for months - I kept trying to see which scenes, if any, omitted the tree. The ritual scene, obviously, and the Fautian scene in Ziegler's billiard room.<br><br>I also loved the little jokes - the list was wonderful to read - and I caught most of them. Missed the Full Metal Jacket video in the Harford's bedroom. That's the best part about Kubrick. You can watch his work over and over and still find new things.<br><br>In fact, Steven Spielberg, in the special section of the EWS DVD, challenges anyone to put a Stanley Kubrick film on and then walk away from it. It cannot be done. You get sucked in - the visual coding is that strong - even professionals admit it.<br><br>On for "guilt by association" issue, I'm with Prof. Pan and Arcadia. The rich, famous, and powerful travel in the same circles, but not all of them participate on the same level. A visual analogy would be a Venn diagram, wherein the center is the darkest segment, the place where all three areas combine. Was Stanley in the "heart of darkness"? Dunno.<br><br>FWIW: I don't like Tom Cruise, either, but this isn't the Tom Cruise the public has come to love/loathe. See the film, if you haven't already. It is an extraordinarily relevant social commentary on the level of corruption among the rich and powerful, and yes, about what happens to those who get too close to the truth.<br><br>To Stanley Kubrick, who was, perhaps, the last of the master filmmakers: RIP.<br><br>Morgan <p></p><i></i>