I don't know what I think of Tom Cruise. I certainly can't stand all that rich, gorgeous, powerful, heroic stuff he does in most of his movies, and the way the camera always shoots scenes not on what would be best for the scene, but what would be best for Cruise. However, since seeing him in 'Magnolia' some years ago, and witnessing what he really is capable of, I do find myself pulled towards any film he stars in that goes against his norm.
And 'Vanilla Sky' is one of those films. Directed by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire), it's a Hollywood remake of the acclaimed Spanish movie 'Open Your Eyes', made by Alejandro Amenabar in 1997.
Cruise plays David Aames, a rich, spoilt publishing magnate who inherited the company from his father and is constantly engaged in cynical battle with 'the seven dwarves' who make up the board.
He is a smooth, arrogant unfeeling brat, and a playboy who toys with the emotions of his 'friend' Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) and treats his only friend Brian (Jason Lee) with a certain contempt.
Typical Cruise so far, and you’d be forgiven for flicking the off switch immediately if the opening scenes, with Cruise leaving for work one morning and finding himself in a totally deserted New York, had not hinted that things would take a more interesting and ethereal turn.
Further evidence that we are not
in typical Cruise territory comes in the form of David, wearing a prosthetic face, telling the story of his life to a psychologist (Kurt Russell) whilst in prison on a murder charge.
Anyway, at David's birthday party, to which Julie turns up uninvited, Brian comes along with a girl he's just met, Sofia (Penelope Cruz), who is unlike anyone Cruise has met before. Being his usual egotistical self, David monopolises her and they end up back at her apartment, leaving Brian and Julie smarting at the party.
Something happens back at Sofia's place that David has not experienced before, i.e. she refuses to sleep with him, but instead engages him in conversation and treats him to her whimsical-come-deep takes on life. He leaves her apartment the next morning in a state of love, knowing that his life is changed forever.
Waiting for him though is highly neurotic Julie, who is obviously quite mad. To appease her, he gets into her car for a chat. She then commits suicide by driving them both over a bridge.
From now on, the film takes on a quite different ambience. Cruise is bodily and facially disfigured from the crash, hence the prosthetic face, and he is an embittered, resentful, jealous, frustrated man who takes to the bottle.
Sophia, being so deep and meaningful, does not care, and they embark on a perfect love affair during which medical advances enable his face to be perfectly reconstructed.
All is not well, though. David is having bad dreams and waking nightmares. He is being followed by a strange man. Julie keeps reappearing.
He does not know what is happening, and neither do we. Often we don't know if we are watching dream or reality. As psychologist McCabe attempts to get at the truth, we find ourselves in ever more surreal, ethereal and intriguing flashbacks that do little to make sense of David's world.
I won't tell you the end of the film, and I defy you to guess it totally. There are many motifs and clues throughout the movie as to what has actually happened, some of which are obviously clues (the TV programme always on, for instance) and others that you don't notice until after the denouement. I picked up on the gist of what had happened, but in no way managed to put it together coherently.
Crowe pulls out all the stops to give an other-worldliness to this movie, and the superb accompanying soundtrack, featuring Radiohead, Leftfield and REM all add to the dark nightmarish atmosphere. It is a jumbled collage of styles - sometimes arty, sometimes thrillerish, sometimes typical romance, sometimes noir - that work brilliantly to add to the confusion and tension. The movie is also a visual feast, with some fascinating sets, innovative camera angles and sharp cutting.
The performances are mostly superb. I found Cruise utterly believable as the bitter, twisted crash survivor, quite charming as the perfect lover, and compelling as the man behind the mask trying to make sense of it all. Kurt Russell is magnificent as the psychologist, showing a depth and intelligence never previously seen on screen, and Diaz is brilliantly on the edge as the woman spurned. Penelope Cruz I found adequate. She didn't light up the screen for me, and at times I found her Latino whimsy irritating, but I did believe - because of Cruise's performance - that David loved her.
Crowe talks of this film as "a puzzle … a love story … a genre-bending, mind-twisting portrait of the American male as he exists five minutes into the future". Which should give you an indication of how difficult this film is to classify and explain.
Crowe also stated that "We constructed the movie, visually and story-wise, to reveal more and more the closer you look at it. As deep as you want to go with it, my desire was for the movie to meet you there."
I couldn't agree with this more. 'Vanilla Sky' is a movie that needs more than one viewing to fully appreciate what lies behind the lovingly crafted sets, the clues, the cutting and the mixture of genres.
For me, after two viewings, this movie is mostly about the self, and more specifically, the construction of self (our ego) and its conflict with our baser impulses. In fact this film was just made for film students to deconstruct from a Freudian point of view.
It's also a film about choices and consequences, a film about the self in relation to others and the world, and a film about love.
I think that this movie can be anything you want it to be. It is so multi-layered and filled with so much subliminal imagery that you can find what meaning you want to find. But you have to work. You can't just sit back with your popcorn and let 'Vanilla Sky' wash over you and tell you its secrets.
'Vanilla Sky' is a long film (two and a half hours), a wordy film, a confusing film and at times a slow-paced film, but I liked all that and felt it added to the atmosphere.
If you're prepared to meet it half way, though, and engage your intellect, it is also a challenging, intriguing, fascinating, beautiful and labrynthian experience.
The film's oft-repeated mantra is 'Open Your Eyes'. Do so, and you'll be richly rewarded.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Watched vanilla sky the other week but didnt really get it..!! But thank to your op I do now!! Was going to rent it again but dont need to now thanks for saving me a few quid.
hepialid 27.10.2002 12:28
Good opinion, really enjoyed this film at the cinema, must watch it again soon though. Andy.
andrew007 21.10.2002 13:37
i rented this last week and at the start i could not understand what was happerning but overall its a great film, brilliant op thanks
Vanilla Skyreunites director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) with the swoonsome Tom Cruise; ... more
adds another sexy Cruz (Penélope) and Cameron Diaz for good measure; and delivers a wildly entertaining, bizarre venture into erotic science fiction. Adapted almo...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Vanilla Skyreunites director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) with the swoonsome Tom Cruise; ... more
adds another sexy Cruz (Penélope) and Cameron Diaz for good measure; and delivers a wildly entertaining, bizarre venture into erotic science fiction. Adapted almo...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Young, handsome and wealthy, publishing tycoon David Aames (Cruise) can have anything his ... more
heart desires. Still, David's charmed life seems incomplete. One night, David meets the woman of his dreams (Penelope Cruz) and believes he may have found the mis...
![Vanilla Sky [DVD] [2002]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78528466.jpg "Vanilla Sky [DVD] [2002]")
Oct 13th, 2002
(Oct 14th, 2002)
very helpful by (100%):
