2003: A Kiwi Odyssey
We're excited to be screening Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, the director's psycho-sexual dive into the world of strained relationships, Christmas excess, and mysterious sex cults, with our friends at Kino Klubb this Friday.
In this confessional piece, Kino Klubb's Joey Bell tells us about why (as a Kubrick superfan) he gave Eyes Wide Shut a wide berth until an incident in the vineyards of New Zealand made him re-evaluate his position.
I wanted to write something more personal about Eyes Wide Shut, a film that has had plenty written about it in its 20-year lifespan.
Eyes Wide Shut affected me like no other film ever has or probably will. It wasn’t the stomach punch of watching Requiem for a Dream for the first time, the non-stop sobfest when I first saw Breaking The Waves, or the terror I felt walking home from a late-night screening of Possession. Eyes Wide Shut caused such a confused emotional state. It allowed me to enter a fantasy world, I’m not sure what value this holds but for a film starring Tom Cruise to have that kind of influence over me, I must hold it up as something great. Great art has the power to move. For me, Eyes Wide Shut had the power to open a doorway.
I came to Eyes Wide Shut late – I blame my own film snobbery for this. I had been a Kubrick obsessive from an early age, it’s obvious to say but Kubrick had the greatest run of masterpieces in any director’s oeuvre. I say snobbery because I was never going to watch a film starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (I’ve still never seen Top Gun, Risky Business, Jerry Maguire, or any of those Cruise classics). I felt disappointed that Kubrick had chosen to work with the Hollywood power couple, I had avoided Days of Thunder and Far & Away - how could Kubrick do this to me? His first film in 12 years and this is who he had chosen to star - had he sold out? I obviously have done a complete 180 on Kidman who is a genius, I’m still not sure about Cruise, I like Magnolia and Collateral though, actually, I quite like the Mission Impossible films too…maybe I am secret Cruise fan?
When Kubrick died, just days after completing the film, I decided to give Eyes Wide Shut a miss. I wasn’t ready to sully his legacy with a disappointing finish, and most of the reviews seemed to echo my fears. I never got to see Eyes Wide Shut at the cinema - a regret that thankfully Broadway have helped to put right.
The first time I saw Eyes Wide Shut was in 2003, I hadn’t planned to watch the film, but I turned on a TV and it was just starting. It was late, and I probably should have gone to sleep, but my curiosity got the better of me…just how bad was this film?
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard an air raid siren that went on for a long time…what the hell was that?
I was in New Zealand staying in a very quaint, sleepy town surrounded by vineyards. I was staying in a beautiful old hotel dating back to 1882. Now, you may have picked up on the vineyard part of this story, it is possible that the many visits to vineyards that day or the jetlag contributed to my reaction to Eyes Wide Shut but following my first watch, I was convinced that this sleepy town was not so sleepy and it was in fact harbouring a secret cult who were planning to murder me that night as they had done with many tourists before. The fantasy of the film had somehow changed my brain and I could no longer differentiate fact from fiction.
I finished watching the film and it was late. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard an air raid siren that went on for a long time…what the hell was that?
I looked out the window, nothing just black, no sign of activity. From another window, I could see the hotel reception - nothing there too. What was going on? Following my descent into Kubrick’s world of secret societies, there was only one obvious answer. The siren was a signal to the town that now was the time to leave their homes and capture the sleeping tourist.
I spent that evening planning my escape route. The room was on the first floor, I would have to jump out of the window and quickly run to the car that was parked across the street. They would think I was asleep but I would stay awake so I could hear the cloaked mob that at any minute was going to carefully open the door and creep up the stairs to my room.
Yes, it was probably the wine, but no film has ever done anything like that to me.
Now hopefully our screening won’t affect anyone in such an extreme and embarrassing way, but I would love for the audience to leave the cinema feeling that Eyes Wide Shut is one of Kubrick’s best. In recent years, it has been critically embraced and re-evaluated and is now considered to be one of Kubrick’s greatest films alongside Barry Lyndon, which also needed years for people to catch up to. It was nice to see Eyes Wide Shut featured in some critics’ Sight and Sound lists in the 2022 greatest film poll. Who knows, in 10 years it may even reach the top 100.
I never did ask at the reception what that siren meant. I could hazard a guess, but the mystery felt better left alone.
Hopefully, you can join us this Friday to experience one of the most subversive Christmas films ever made.
Eyes Wide Shut is screening on Friday 16 December at 7.45pm. Tickets are on sale now.