DVD Review - Eros
Eros means sexual love but, unfortunately, Eros is not a very erotic film. The best thing that can be said about the film is that it is a somewhat interesting mess. The second best thing is that I saw it on DVD rather than in the theater and paid a lot less money to see it.
The film is a compilation of three short films from three well known directors. The first segment entitled The Hand, is directed by Wong Kar Wai and stars Gong Li (or Li Gong as she now calls herself) as a high class prostitute who is facing hard times. Ms. Gong's character is used to having her clothing custom made by a tailor. Because he is getting old she decides to hire his young assistant as her new tailor. He is very innocent and after she offers him a bit of pleasure he becomes totally devoted to her. The story is cold and convoluted and didn't do a thing for me. With a few exceptions (In the Mood for Love being one of them) I am not a big fan of Mr. Wong's style of filmmaking. The best thing about this segment is Ms. Gong's acting (which is almost always good) and Christopher Doyle's cinematography (I loved the shot of the torrential rain hitting the pavement).
The second segment is entitled Equilibrium and it is directed by Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh has had his share of hits and misses and this film is one of his misses. Robert Downey, Jr. stars as a man who keeps having an erotic dream about a woman who is not his wife but who seems to be someone that he knows. He is also having some problems at work. His shrink is played by Alan Arkin. The first part of the film is in color and is the dream segment. The second (and main) part of this short film is in black and white and consists of Downey's character telling his shrink about the dream. While the shrink comments on what his patient says he is also busy looking out the window with binoculars and sending paper airplanes to someone he knows. The last part of this film is in color. Downey's character is awakened by an alarm clock. His wife comes in to say good morning and we discover that she is the woman in the dream. At work we see him with his co-worker Hal who happens to look just like the shrink. What does all of this mean? As someone who is interested in the interpretation of dreams, I can tell you that I couldn't care less. Downey and Arkin give good performances and they deserve to be in better films. This story is an exercise in pretentiousness.
The final segment is entitled The Dangerous Thread of Things and is directed by the Italian master Michaelangelo Antonioni. This segment may be the closest thing to eroticism that we have in the film but that doesn't mean it is good. The film is beautiful to look at because we are at a lovely beach in Italy. The story is about a well to do couple who are having problems.
The wife, who is topless, is sitting at a pool. When her husband comes over to her she puts on her sheer top and continues getting dressed. They go out to have lunch at a restaurant and then part ways. He meets a woman who is also staying in the area. She invites him into her place and they have sex. Later on the wife is on the phone to the husband (who is in France) and she tells him that she misses him. In the last scene of the film we find her nude and walking on the beach. She comes across the woman who had sex with her husband who is lying on the beach (and also happens to be nude) and stands over her. That's the whole thing. The sex scene was pretty boring and the nudity was no big deal. I expected more of Antonioni and to say that I was disappointed is an understatement.
Bottom line: There is absolutely no connection between the three segments of the film. And, there is not one character in the film that was worth thinking about. This just goes to show that being a good director is not enough. You need a good plot and interesting characters to make your film a success.
The film is a compilation of three short films from three well known directors. The first segment entitled The Hand, is directed by Wong Kar Wai and stars Gong Li (or Li Gong as she now calls herself) as a high class prostitute who is facing hard times. Ms. Gong's character is used to having her clothing custom made by a tailor. Because he is getting old she decides to hire his young assistant as her new tailor. He is very innocent and after she offers him a bit of pleasure he becomes totally devoted to her. The story is cold and convoluted and didn't do a thing for me. With a few exceptions (In the Mood for Love being one of them) I am not a big fan of Mr. Wong's style of filmmaking. The best thing about this segment is Ms. Gong's acting (which is almost always good) and Christopher Doyle's cinematography (I loved the shot of the torrential rain hitting the pavement).
The second segment is entitled Equilibrium and it is directed by Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh has had his share of hits and misses and this film is one of his misses. Robert Downey, Jr. stars as a man who keeps having an erotic dream about a woman who is not his wife but who seems to be someone that he knows. He is also having some problems at work. His shrink is played by Alan Arkin. The first part of the film is in color and is the dream segment. The second (and main) part of this short film is in black and white and consists of Downey's character telling his shrink about the dream. While the shrink comments on what his patient says he is also busy looking out the window with binoculars and sending paper airplanes to someone he knows. The last part of this film is in color. Downey's character is awakened by an alarm clock. His wife comes in to say good morning and we discover that she is the woman in the dream. At work we see him with his co-worker Hal who happens to look just like the shrink. What does all of this mean? As someone who is interested in the interpretation of dreams, I can tell you that I couldn't care less. Downey and Arkin give good performances and they deserve to be in better films. This story is an exercise in pretentiousness.
The final segment is entitled The Dangerous Thread of Things and is directed by the Italian master Michaelangelo Antonioni. This segment may be the closest thing to eroticism that we have in the film but that doesn't mean it is good. The film is beautiful to look at because we are at a lovely beach in Italy. The story is about a well to do couple who are having problems.
The wife, who is topless, is sitting at a pool. When her husband comes over to her she puts on her sheer top and continues getting dressed. They go out to have lunch at a restaurant and then part ways. He meets a woman who is also staying in the area. She invites him into her place and they have sex. Later on the wife is on the phone to the husband (who is in France) and she tells him that she misses him. In the last scene of the film we find her nude and walking on the beach. She comes across the woman who had sex with her husband who is lying on the beach (and also happens to be nude) and stands over her. That's the whole thing. The sex scene was pretty boring and the nudity was no big deal. I expected more of Antonioni and to say that I was disappointed is an understatement.
Bottom line: There is absolutely no connection between the three segments of the film. And, there is not one character in the film that was worth thinking about. This just goes to show that being a good director is not enough. You need a good plot and interesting characters to make your film a success.
posted by Film Fanatic | 3:09 PM
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