Eliza's Horoscope is the story of a naive young lady from the country who comes to the city looking for love. She is told by a man that she will find love in the city. Once there she seeks a Chinese astrologer who tells her she will meet a rich suitor. Innocent as it sounds to wish to be in love, marry, and have children, it is far from. Eliza is living in a dirty city in a brothel sharing a room with a middle-aged prostitute. Her only true male companion is Tommy Lee Jones an American-Indian who may also be an idealist in some sense, but understands the world as it is-an oppressive and immoral place. In fact, one of the best features of the film deals with Tommy Lee Jones bringing Eliza to his grandmother and the grandmother explaining the difference in the quality of life since the village she lived has been taken over and converted by the white settlers into an industrial city. It is because Tommy Lee Jones is a realist that he can see oppression and wants to fight it. Eliza on the otherhand rather than seeing the world as it is, she lives in fantasies and looks for crutches to use in her life. The baby shoes Eliza carries with her in a wooden box are one example. The second is relying on horoscopes. Is the horoscope given by the Chinese world true or false? What is true is that by trying to follow her horoscope she moves more and more away from reality and those she loves through the seedy, underworld of degenerate modern life and loveless, wealthy men. The prostitute throwing away her horoscope and shoes are a desire on her part to try to free Eliza from her inability to see reality. The plot is oftentime confusing as are the hallucinatic images in the film. I can't possible fantom the meaning of the whole film. Normally I wouldn't recommend such a film. However, the movie is visually hypnotic to watch. There is something that draws one want into viewing this film.
Review of Eliza's Horoscope
