Summary:
A wealthy Doctor living in New York City reevaluates his life and marriage while wandering through the city after his wife admits she fantasized about cheating on him.
My Thoughts:
At last we come to the end of a great career of a genius director; it’s a bittersweet entry that he leaves us with. I’ve seen this movie twice now, and both times I’ve been impressed by Tom Cruise’s acting abilities in certain scenes, Kubrick’s amazing use of light and color, and both times I’ve been simultaneously shocked and disappointed by the party scene. I say this is a bittersweet film for Kubrick to leave us with because it’s a film I’ve always felt was good but not great; there are scenes when Kubrick’s earlier brilliance really comes through, and other scenes that are expertly crafted and executed, but have nothing there in terms of emotional spark. There is plenty to like for those who have an interest in the director, or in filmmaking in general. To say that this film isn’t exquisitely put together would be a false statement, but it does loose steam towards the end, and it doesn’t really say anything so profound as to warrant its two hour and forty minute runtime. It’s a fine film, but I wish we had gotten more from Kubrick. I suppose we’ve all got to go sometime though…
“Life goes on, until it doesn’t, but you know that, don’t you?”
Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise, “Mission Impossible: Fallout”) and his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman, “The Others”) attend a party for their friend Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack, “Out of Africa”). Once there, the two immediately separate and find different people to flirt with; it’s obvious that the two are having some marital difficulties. William runs into an old friend, Nick Nightingale (Todd Field, “Little Children”), a piano player. As the night goes on, William is called upstairs to help Ziegler with an overdosing prostitute, and Alice continues dancing with a man who is clearly trying to seduce her. After the party the two return home and smoke a joint, and while high, Alice recalls a night when she almost cheated on William. William, astounded by his wife’s revelation, wrestles with visions of his wife sleeping with another man, and eventually goes out to clear his head, and decides to visit his friend Nick at one of the clubs. After talking with Nick, William invites himself to a party at which Nick will play piano later, but the party turns out to be stranger than William could’ve ever imagined. He might have even wandered into something dangerous.
This film is carried primarily by the writing- and the writing is phenomenal. A lot of this movie is just lengthy scenes of dialogue talking about certain issues (primarily sex and marriage). One might find that premise a little boring, but it’s anything but. Kidman’s best scene in the whole film is when she talks about the night she almost slept with a Naval officer. The scene is done in a way that makes he see incredible open and vulnerable, and she really eats up the screen in that scene. There are other really great monologues and explanations in this film too; Sydney Pollack has a couple great lines, and so does Todd Field. The scene where Field talks about the party he plans to attend later really sells the whole film, but it really takes a while to get there. This movie is also filled with great moments of irony and recurring themes (the end of the rainbow being one), so much so that the film seems to rhyme with itself. This script isn’t perfect, however. The climax of this film is essentially a conversation explaining what happened- the most exciting part of the film happens an hour before the film comes to a close, and it feel sort of strange (structurally) having the most exciting bit at the halfway point. There are some moments of tension that come after the party, but a lot of the tension comes from not knowing what’s going on- if you’ve already seen the film once then that tension doesn’t really carry over for a second viewing (though the scene at the manor is just as strange a second time). I’ve heard it said that a great piece of art is something that you can come back to multiple times and get something new from it every time. Well, this film I’ve come back to twice, and I think I’ve squeezed every drop of meaning from it I’ll get- it’s just a lengthy film, and it’s not exactly a fun or exciting topic, so I have a hard time believing this will ever be a film I watch repetitively (maybe once or twice more in my life- as compared to “The Shining”, which I’ll probably watch once a year until I die).
The directing and cinematography are things that really stick out in this movie. Kubrick does a lot of long tracking shots, either through the twinkling streets of New York or the halls of the manor as people- erm- party. This film is set around Christmastime and Kubrick takes full advantage of that- the streets of New York look more like a glittering fantasy world than anything else. The world is shiny and bright and vibrant, everything feels too perfect, almost as if the world itself is putting on a façade to hide the dirty bits underneath. As we revisit the world later, the glittering lights and the shimmer and shine is stripped away, and we really see the true face of who/what people are. There are a lot of scenes that utilize the colors red and blue in great ways- particularly when William and Alice are discussing the night when Alice almost cheated on him- the bathroom is lit with blue lighting, while the bedroom is lit with a soft red, and the characters move back and forth between the lighting shifts as their moods change- wonderfully subtle directing.
I thought Tom Cruise did a fine job as William Harford; there were a few scenes where he came off a little cheesy, but for the most part I thought he did a really good job. I thought Nicole Kidman actually really overacted in this movie, and that’s too bad, because I usually really like her. The scenes when she had to act drunk or stoned were particularly rough- she completely oversold it to the point of being a touch ridiculous.
Verdict:
I don’t hate this film, but I certainly don’t love it either. As far as craft, it’s great. As far as story, it’s fine. Some scenes worked better than others, some acting suffers a bit, and overall, I still think this film could’ve been twenty minutes shorter and we would’ve gotten the same message. Then again, who am I to tell Kubrick how to do his job? He’s a director that has crafted some of the most brilliant films of his time, this one just doesn’t work as well as others (it’s still better than 90% of the movies I see today, which is why it still earns a 4 star rating from me). A bittersweet note for Kubrick to leave on, but as said in this film; “life goes on, until it doesn’t, but you know that, don’t you?"
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