open your eyes

 

Vanilla Sky

Dir. Cameron Crowe; 135 minutes; rated R

Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz

 

When you next meet Tom Cruise for lunch, ask him about Alejandro Amenabar’s 1997 film Abre Los Ojos, and he’ll tell you that even before the final credits rolled, he was on the phone negotiating for the rights to an American remake. This says to me two things; firstly, that Mr Cruise patently ignored the exhortations for him to turn off his cellphone, and secondly that he has surprisingly good taste (considering the fool has just divorced the most beautiful woman in the world).

You see, I’m one of the lucky few to have seen the original long before the remake was ever announced, and it is indeed an intriguing, labyrinthine conceit. It borrows from Beaudrillard and Balzac long before The Matrix made them cool, and fuses them with Beauty And The Beast and The Phantom Of The Opera to create something that no-one had really seen before – characters and a plot which are faithfully recreated in Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky.

Without giving away too much of this plot, we have David Aames (Cruise), a massively wealthy playboy who has it all; looks, money, a huge NYC apartment, gorgeous cars, celebrities as friends, and an occasional bedmate in Julie (Diaz). Best mate Brian (Jason Lee) turns up to a party with Sofia (Cruz), and suddenly David is smitten. Stealing her away from Brian, they spend a chaste night together, but on leaving her flat it becomes apparent that Julie has followed him, and is a little jealous. When he unwisely gets into her car, she slowly transforms into a desperate, spurned lover in the Fatal Attraction mould. The first act of the play ends as she drives the car off a Central Park bridge at 80mph.

Thereafter, to say too much about the film would be to give away too many secrets. Structurally, it’s cleverly driven by flashbacks, as David sits in a cell accused of murder, his face covered by a latex mask, reluctantly relating the events that led him there to psychologist McCabe (Kurt Russell). It’s a vivid, visually impressive film, the cinematography setting and enhancing the mood. As for the soundtrack, from the first bars of Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place you almost feel that the music was composed specially – one of Crowe’s particular talents.

The two leads acquit themselves admirably. Cruise’s David is initially hard to sympathise with, due to his emotionally empty, almost parasitic existence and the shameful way he treats Julie (and everyone else). But as the story progresses his privileged life is turned on its head, and it is here Cruise earns his paycheck; by turns angry, devastated and utterly withdrawn. But I’m afraid he’s just not as attractive as his Spanish counterpart (Eduardo Noriega). Cruz’s Sofia is, of course, both luminously beautiful and slightly underused, as she always seems to be. Here she reprises her role from Amenabar’s film, and she is enchanting. She’s very much the soul of the piece, although the terrible irony of that statement will only become apparent towards the end.

The major supporting cast is also uniformly excellent. Diaz is dangerously edgy as Julie, and handles the difficult transition from playful friend to menacing, suicidal ex-lover very well. Crowe regular, Lee, is the embodiment of self-deprecating charm, as hugely likeable in this as he is in everything. Similarly, Timothy Spall, as one of David’s henchmen, turns in a great performance; but of course he always does, so surely this goes without saying now? Fellow Brit Noah Taylor gives a very measured, understated performance, which nicely complements Cruise’s tendency to grandstand. Russell’s psychologist McCabe is earnest, sympathetic and compassionate, and in an odd way is perhaps the film’s most tragic character because of this. Mark Kozelek’s quirky performance is also liable to turn a few heads.

The film builds slowly, and has a tendency to drag a little in the middle; but if you have a sneaking suspicion that you’re missing something during the quieter bits that’s because you are. It bears re-watching, if only so you can say to yourself ‘oh, so that’s what’s happening’ the second time around. It’s not an easy film to categorise, but if you stay with it, it will reward you.

 

Drew Taylor grrl-e-grrl.com resident film freek