Eros - Movie Review
Eros is an anthology of 3 short films, each a different acclaimed director’s take on eroticism. It’s a nice mix, any which way you look at it. One Hong-kie (Wong Kar Wai), the other American (Steve Soderbergh) and the third Italian (Michelangelo Antonioni); one classy and old-school, the other whacky and irreverent, and the third pretentious and senile; and as for the shorts, one HOT, the other funny and vaguely erotic, and the third pathetic!.
The Hand
For me, this was the best of the lot. Immensely erotic, this one stars the still-stunningly-beautiful Gong Li, and some lucky bastard whose name I couldn’t be bothered to look up, in the lead roles. And to top it off, the photography for this segment is by Chris Doyle – the guy both Kar Wai and Zhang Yimou swear by – and is very reminiscent of other Kar Wai movies like ‘In the Mood for Love’. It tells the story of a high-class escort who has fallen upon bad times, and her tailor who hasn’t stopped loving her. The scene where the rookie tailor is summoned into her chambers as a sort of an interview is as sensual as it is funny.
Equilibrium
This one, as is usual with a Soderbergh movie, is very stylish and whacky. It starts off with the camera panning to and fro to catch glimpses of a woman taking a bath, through the partially-open door. We realize that it’s the POV of somebody lying on the bed and watching her get ready. Cut to a shrink (Alan Arkin)’s office, and an ad exec (Robert Downey Jr.) is relating the previous scene as a recurring dream. This scene is in B&W, with the dream in color. And this whole scene is a riot! The shrink gets the patient to face away from him on the couch and close his eyes while relating his tale, so that he can divert his attentions to the presumably (as we don’t see her) hot babe in the office across the street. And not satisfied with just ‘looking’ with his binoculars (which he gets stealthily from his desk while egging the patient on to continue describing the dream), he shoots off a ‘paper rocket’, sets a coffee date in sign-language, and sneaks out of the office. Hilarious.
The dangerous thread of things
This one bears an uncanny resemblance to all those b-grade movies which wed porn with unintentional comedy. You know that thin line between eroticism and pornography, don’t you? Well, Antonioni obviously doesn’t. The plotlines are screwed almost as frequently as the women on screen. Then I figured its just porn and I might as well sit back and enjoy it for what it is. And Antonioni, for all his faults, is redoubtable in his choice of gorgeous female characters. [Luisa Ranieri is the name to look for, for the curious ones :)).] And when the much-awaited scene did roll into place, this rotten old bastard sitting next to me RUINED it for me, by promptly unzipping his pants and beating off. Then again, there couldn’t have been a more emphatic, if disgusting, pronouncement on the artistic merits of this segment. Maybe that’s the idea of the whole movie too – to show us the difference between eroticism and porn. But it’s a pity the guy who this anthology was supposed to be a tribute to, ends up making the worst of the three.
The Hand
For me, this was the best of the lot. Immensely erotic, this one stars the still-stunningly-beautiful Gong Li, and some lucky bastard whose name I couldn’t be bothered to look up, in the lead roles. And to top it off, the photography for this segment is by Chris Doyle – the guy both Kar Wai and Zhang Yimou swear by – and is very reminiscent of other Kar Wai movies like ‘In the Mood for Love’. It tells the story of a high-class escort who has fallen upon bad times, and her tailor who hasn’t stopped loving her. The scene where the rookie tailor is summoned into her chambers as a sort of an interview is as sensual as it is funny.
Equilibrium
This one, as is usual with a Soderbergh movie, is very stylish and whacky. It starts off with the camera panning to and fro to catch glimpses of a woman taking a bath, through the partially-open door. We realize that it’s the POV of somebody lying on the bed and watching her get ready. Cut to a shrink (Alan Arkin)’s office, and an ad exec (Robert Downey Jr.) is relating the previous scene as a recurring dream. This scene is in B&W, with the dream in color. And this whole scene is a riot! The shrink gets the patient to face away from him on the couch and close his eyes while relating his tale, so that he can divert his attentions to the presumably (as we don’t see her) hot babe in the office across the street. And not satisfied with just ‘looking’ with his binoculars (which he gets stealthily from his desk while egging the patient on to continue describing the dream), he shoots off a ‘paper rocket’, sets a coffee date in sign-language, and sneaks out of the office. Hilarious.
The dangerous thread of things
This one bears an uncanny resemblance to all those b-grade movies which wed porn with unintentional comedy. You know that thin line between eroticism and pornography, don’t you? Well, Antonioni obviously doesn’t. The plotlines are screwed almost as frequently as the women on screen. Then I figured its just porn and I might as well sit back and enjoy it for what it is. And Antonioni, for all his faults, is redoubtable in his choice of gorgeous female characters. [Luisa Ranieri is the name to look for, for the curious ones :)).] And when the much-awaited scene did roll into place, this rotten old bastard sitting next to me RUINED it for me, by promptly unzipping his pants and beating off. Then again, there couldn’t have been a more emphatic, if disgusting, pronouncement on the artistic merits of this segment. Maybe that’s the idea of the whole movie too – to show us the difference between eroticism and porn. But it’s a pity the guy who this anthology was supposed to be a tribute to, ends up making the worst of the three.
posted by CogitoErgoConfusum at 6/09/2005 08:38:00 PM
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