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Review:
 This is
an experiment by three of the great masters of cinema, proving yet
again that great men can screw up from time to time. The three
shorts, which are about twenty minutes each, will be dealt
separately:
The Hand
Written And Directed by Wong Kar-wai, Starring: Gong Li, Chang
Chen, Robert Downey Jr., Alan Arkin, Ele Keats
This is actually the most erotic of the bunch. It’s about the
platonic relationship between a prostitute named Hua(Gong Li) and
a tailor named Zhang(Chang Chen).
At first Miss Hua is extremely successful, and calls on Zhang
and his company to make her stylish clothes to order. But then she
gets older, but Zhang is there to give her adoration and textiles,
even when her beauty fades and she has to start working in lower
rent areas. The relationship is surprisingly platonic and
extremely touching, especially as time goes on and she comes to
appreciate Zhang and what he does for her more. This is by far the
best of the three…
Equilibrium
Written And Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Starring: Gong Li,
Chang Chen, Robert Downey Jr., Alan Arkin, Ele Keats
So this is what Soderbergh did between "Solaris and "Ocean’s
Twelve" Not much, I guess, but it’s better than nothing.
This is basically a "Saturday Night Live" style sketch. We
begin with a lovely lady(Ele Keats) taking a shower and getting
dressed. It’s clear from her outfit that this is the 1950s, but
we’re not sure what it means…
Cut to black and white, where a ad exec named Nick(Robert
Downey Jr.) is walking into his shrink’s(Alan Arkin) office to
discuss his recurring dream, which is what we’ve just seen in
color. The good doctor tells our hero to lie down on the Freudian
couch, not only to do therapy, but so Nick won’t see him looking
out the window at the building across the street with his
binoculars. It’s all very silly, and not Soderbergh’s best work,
but as a short it’s kind of funny. The ending is even stranger and
doesn’t add much to the narrative.
But at least it makes sense.
Il Filo pericoloso delle cose
Written And Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Starring: Gong
Li, Chang Chen, Robert Downey Jr., Alan Arkin, Ele Keats
Back in the days before the 9/11 attacks, the great Antonioni
made this short film, which, I guess, was lying around on a shelf
for quite a while. It’s about a couple who no longer love each
other.
Christopher(Christopher Bucholtz) and Cloe(Regina Nemni) are
extremely rich and constantly bicker. We meet them doing just that
while she’s at the side of her luxurious swimming pool in the
buff. Then they decide to go to their favorite restaurant, where
Cloe is wearing a see-through blouse that would get her arrested
if she wore it on the street in the United States, or in fact most
of Europe. There they see a beautiful young woman(Luisa Ranieri).
They bicker about her, too.
But Chris decides to seek this fascinating stranger out, he
does and they make love in their castle. Cut to the winter, where
Cloe meets the young woman, who’s lying on the beach in the buff
in the freezing cold.
As you can tell this is terrible. Antonioni has lost it. He’s
very old so one can forgive him, but you don’t have to see
this….there are plenty of more interesting places to see naked
tits.
The entire anthology is a waste of time and money. You might as
well give it a miss.
Eric Lurio
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