Directed by Stanley Kubrick
UK, USA 1999
Ho, ho, ho! Hard to imagine that this is our 100th week of publishing ReidsonFilm and as it lands on Xmas Eve we thought that we would have another go at a podcast. Naturally we decided on the perfect Christmas film by ReidsonFilm favourite, Stanley Kubrick: Eyes Wide Shut.
Or is it an anti-Xmas film? It’s certainly the case that fairy lights and Christmas trees appear in practically every shot, and yet the yuletide season doesn’t get a mention – unless you count the film’s finale, a festive shopping spree.
Arguably his most divisive film, Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick’s first completed project after a 12-year hiatus and then he died, just six days after his final edit. Starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman – the Hollywood power couple – the marketing suggested that audiences were in for a raunchy erotic thriller. Turned out the film was more existential nightmare than Silent Night, Steamy Night.
A tale of one man’s surreal odyssey through the streets of a city in the lead-up to Christmas. Which, when you think about it, is not so different from our Xmas film of 2023, the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, Jingle All the Way:
Except instead of hunting for a Turbo Man doll, Tom Cruise stumbles into something rather different:
So, as 2024 draws to a close, so does our third season of film reviews, and rather than panicking in the face of what 2025 holds we decided to reflect on our non-film cultural highlights of this year:
Callum:
I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacquline Harpman (book); Lear by The National Changgeuk Company of Korea (theatre); Revelation, Michael Harrison (album)
Theo:
Oneohtrix Point Never at the Royal Festival Hall (live music); The Shadow King, Maaza Mengiste (book)
Nathan:
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy (book); The Curse (TV); Oneohtrix Point Never at the Royal Festival Hall (live music)
Steven:
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie (book); Oedipus at Wyndham’s Theatre (theatre); Win&Lose, Chinese Football (album)
Jo (featured guest):
The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican (theatre); Peaky Blinders - all six seasons (TV); Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (book)
❄️🎄⛄ Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to all of our readers! ❄️🌟⛄
Podcast links: Spotify, Apple Podcasts
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