Vanilla sky
Year of release : 2001
Run time : 2h17min
Genre : Sci Fi / Thriller / Psychological Thriller / Mystery
Cast : Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Tilda Swinton, Jason Lee
David Aames ,the son of a publishing magnate,now at the helm of the empire due to his parents' death,is a very selfish person. He only thinks about himself and treats women like disposables. He has this beautiful model played by Cameron Diaz falling for him,but to him she is just a friend with benefits.
On the night of the day the movie starts,his birthday,he meets Sofia,who came to his party with his best friend. The moment he sees her,he flirts shamelessly with her,right in front of his best friend and Julie,the model who loves him. He calls Julie a stalker for coming to his birthday party uninvited,although he just spent the night with her.
He spends the night with Sofia and in the morning he meets Julie. Julie takes him for a ride and drives the car off a bridge,killing herself,leaving him with serious health problems.
From there on,things start turning strange as David doesn't know what's real or not.
This is one of my favorite movies. The colors,the scenery is just amazing. The scenes,action, just flow and merge with the amazing music,which is like the soundtrack of a fairy tale.
I loved the movie,the whole dream feeling to it,being amplified by the dream-like music,the colors, the way the light was cast, and the sound effects of wires being plugged in and people talking in a place unseen, while at the same time, whenever they watch tv the story of Benny the dog is on, giving us a hint about what's going on.
David doesn't have many virtues, he comes across as unlikeable, due to what he does to his friends. He is a playboy (he is even given a nickname to match) who falls for Sofia, a woman his best friend dates, and thinks it's OK, because he only met her a few hours before him! He also disconsiders Julie's feelings, Julie, who loves him so much, she can't live without him, and in a moment of sheer despair (and madness) that she lost him and he would never lover her, drives the car off the bridge.
Sofia pretty much exists the way we know her, in David's memories. She only has what David gives her, how David thinks she is.
Speaking of David, he is so self centered, SPOILER that even when he is arrested for what he did to who he thinks to be Julie, he thinks it's Ok, because it's not Sofia, and Julie is impersonating her!
He keeps on calling Julie, a woman he considers a friend, but who loves him deeply, a stalker, because he's not interested in dating her, only in having s3x with her .
He is redeemed by the love he feels for Sofia, and it feels that what he goes through is punishment for how he treated others his whole life (like Julie and his best friend).
The acting was great,Tom Cruise,as always gives an amazing performance,especially since he has to act with his face distorted a quarter of the time,the other quarter having to wear a mask.
The movie has cameos of Johnny Galecki, Conan O'Brien, and I honestly think Tom Cruise's secretary is played by Lisa Loeb.
SPOILERS
Regardless of what they say in the movie,the whole movie is a dream because in the first scene we get to hear Penelope's voice saying "abre los ojos",then "open your eyes",a homage to the original Spanish movie Abre Los Ojos made in 1997 in which Penelope Cruz plays the same character she plays in this one,Sofia. At that moment he didn't know Sofia. Also,he has a dream with empty streets and right after he talks to the psychiatrist who once again,exists only in his mind.
Still SPOILERS One thing that got me this time was, they say he's dead, that he k1lled himself, and that at the same time he's in a suspended state, and that they can bring him back. I don't understand how is it possible, if he's dead, for them to put him in a dream-like state !
Speaking of which, it feels he's in purgatory, paying for his sins.
The movie received mixed reviews, but was nominated for many awards,and grossed 203 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 68 million.
Tom Cruise is actually the one who wanted to make a remake of the Spanish "Abre los Ojos" after watching it, at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, and asked director Cameron Crowe to do it.
Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains mature content(explicit language and nudity).
Rating : The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of !