Fridae

Three titans of contemporary cinema — Wong Kar Wai, Steven
Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni — join hands to produce
an international trilogy of erotic short films. And perhaps, it
comes as no surprise that the piece by our beloved Kar Wai —
often considered as the most important filmmaker of the 1990s —
easily surpasses the other two short films.

Titled The Hand, his minor masterpiece stars Chang Chen
as a shy tailor who is sent by his boss to a high-class prostitute's
(Gong Li) home to take her measurements and design her clothes.
He is aroused by her sensuality and gets a super hard-on, so she
decides to, um, well, give him a helping hand (hence the title).
He becomes obsessed with her, and imagines her when she is not there.

Charged with the same lush romanticism that pervaded In the
Mood for Love, The Hand shows Kar Wai at the peak
of his powers. And it makes Eros worth watching despite
the less substantial offerings from the other two directors.

Steven's film Equilibrium is about a man (Robert Downey
Jr) confessing his erotic dreams to his psychiatrist. It is mildly
amusing comedy and not at all erotic. Meanwhile, Michelangelo's
piece about a love triangle is somewhat patchy and banal.

Only Kar Wai's The Hand stays in your head and your heart
long after you've forgotten the other two.