3. Dr. Bill Harford - Eyes Wide Shut
Somehow a film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring then husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman became severely underrated. It was Kubrick's final film, and was the best year for Cruise as an actor, with Magnolia released the same year. Perhaps why the film and performance are so underrated is because the film is so quiet and understated it's almost like being a dream, which I imagine was the intention. The film, running at 159 minutes is very long and hard to endure for some and the shoot is one of the longest in history and it stars the world's most famous couple, yet everything about the viewing experience is understated. Cruise was coming off his finest film to date in Jerry Maguire and it was the return of cinema's finest auteur, so expectations were going to be high, and so often it's expectations which kill a film. For many, Eyes Wide Shut was a disappointing disaster and a sad way for the great director to go out, but with a little bit of patience and multiple watches, the genius of Eyes Wide Shut becomes apparent. It's a very quiet film that explores the soul and sexual need in an intellectual manner without gratuity, and at the heart of the film is a magnificent leading turn by Cruise as the troubled, obsessed, sexually conflicted Bill Harford. Nicole Kidman received many plaudits upon the film's release, but praise was surprisingly scarce for Cruise. Cruise has the trickier role, and as a character that is so different to Cruise himself, he naturally transforms himself into the complex doctor. Cruise hits the balance just right, knowing when to explode and internalise at just the right time. Most of Stanley Kubrick's films were dismissed at the time of their release, and the contemporary reaction to Eyes Wide Shut was no different. Hopefully, Eyes Wide Shut, much like A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon did, will get the recognition it deserves as time passes.