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Author Topic: 90s US Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust  (Read 33056 times)

¡Keith!

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1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #20 on: April 22, 2009, 11:12:46 AM »
Swingers clubs are real, and every night in every major city, scenes almost exactly like the one in EWS occur. Its not absurd, its common.

Stories/.jpegs plz?

F that - animated .GIFs!!

(also yeah - EWS is in no way seminal and frankly quite flawed - go cinderella Trust!)

Clovis8

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1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #21 on: April 22, 2009, 11:14:12 AM »


EWS is not absurd in the slightest.

Your defense seems to focus on the individual elements of the film.  But that's not where my problem is.  Instead, as I tried to illustrate in my verdict last round, the trouble is that the way all those elements are strung together creates some really forced plotting (uninteresting) and incosistent characterizations (off-putting).



It is fair to argue that the string of events is unrealistic which is why I point out that the film is clearly heightened reality. I was just taking issue with the common criticism that the various sexual exploits in the movie are absurd. I agree that having Cruise come across a child sexual exploitation, prostitution, infidelity and an orgy in the same night is unrealistic, I never thought this hurt the film. I wouldnt pick EWS shut as the best film of 90's by any means, but I do think it has some really great ideas that are rarely explored in American cinema.

mañana

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1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #22 on: April 22, 2009, 12:06:16 PM »
Trust in a landslide over Eyes Wide Shut.

Nice job, philip918. I voted the other way, but I see a lot of overlap in our experiences. Although it wasn't a landslide for me, I really struggled with my verdict. 

EWS's ridiculousness ultimately intrigued me, and I wasn't as enthusiastic about Trust as you, but most importantly you're totally right about the scene at the clinic.

EWS is not absurd in the slightest... Swingers clubs are real
   
Nobody is disputing the existence of group sex clubs, it just plays out absurdly in the film.   

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Sam the Cinema Snob

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1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #23 on: April 22, 2009, 12:24:24 PM »
I kinda hope EWS loses...cuz it got banned from the netflix queue.  :P

philip918

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Re: 1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #24 on: April 23, 2009, 02:28:18 PM »
EWS is not absurd in the slightest. I have heard this criticism many times and it only makes the critic look naive. Swingers clubs are real, and every night in every major city, scenes almost exactly like the one in EWS occur. Its not absurd, its common. I think EWS shows a slightly heightened reality, of course, but reality nonetheless. I think EWS is a brilliant investigation of sexual politics in marriage and the subdued male sexuality of the last 20 years.

Don't especially care to be called naive, especially when my criticism of Bill's sexual misadventures has nothing to do with the plausibility of an actual sex club existing, but with how the film handles these scenes.  EWS has a couple partial scenes between Cruise and Kidman that are very interesting, but the rest of the film failed to capitalize on that interest.  I mean, Kidman's character practically disappears for most of the final two hours of the film except for a hokey re-telling of a dream and then at the very end to heavy-handedly explain the film's themes. 

I think Closer, while far from perfect, did a better job examining this same issue. 

Clovis8

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Re: 1990s US Bracket, Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #25 on: April 23, 2009, 03:03:43 PM »
EWS is not absurd in the slightest. I have heard this criticism many times and it only makes the critic look naive. Swingers clubs are real, and every night in every major city, scenes almost exactly like the one in EWS occur. Its not absurd, its common. I think EWS shows a slightly heightened reality, of course, but reality nonetheless. I think EWS is a brilliant investigation of sexual politics in marriage and the subdued male sexuality of the last 20 years.

Don't especially care to be called naive, especially when my criticism of Bill's sexual misadventures has nothing to do with the plausibility of an actual sex club existing, but with how the film handles these scenes.  EWS has a couple partial scenes between Cruise and Kidman that are very interesting, but the rest of the film failed to capitalize on that interest.  I mean, Kidman's character practically disappears for most of the final two hours of the film except for a hokey re-telling of a dream and then at the very end to heavy-handedly explain the film's themes. 

I think Closer, while far from perfect, did a better job examining this same issue. 

My point was that individually every sexual scene in the movie is not only not absurd but in fact common. I agree that the combination, in one night, is pretty silly.

pixote

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Re: 90s US Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #26 on: April 25, 2009, 12:23:09 PM »
This thread needs more verdicts.

pixote
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mañana

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Re: 90s US Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #27 on: April 26, 2009, 02:34:16 PM »
This thread needs more verdicts.

pixote
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Clovis8

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Re: 90s US Round 5: Eyes Wide Shut vs. Trust
« Reply #29 on: April 26, 2009, 07:17:10 PM »
If people think EWS is absurd in its depictions of sexuality, you should see Shortbus  :o