*** (out of ****)
Starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton, Alicia Witt, and Noah Taylor
Directed & written for the screen by Cameron Crowe, with photography by John Toll, inspired by the film “Abre Los Ojos” (“Open Your Eyes”), written by Alejandro Amenabar and Mateo Gil
2001
136 min R
“Vanilla Sky” is like “Jerry Maguire” crossed with “Mulholland Dr.” Or maybe, since it has Tom Cruise in a mask and is based on a Spanish film called “Open Your Eyes,” we should just refer to it as “Open Your Eyes Wide Shut.” It’s one of those movies, like “Mulholland Dr.” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Waking Life,” where we wonder what’s real and what’s a fantasy, a dream, or an hallucination. I can’t say why movies like this have been so popular lately, but I can say that one of the advantages they give a filmmaker is that art and analysis can be put together in the same piece. In a way, every film is half-reality and half-hallucination. We are drawn to what our protagonist does, what fantasies he provides, what truths about ourselves he explores or hides.
Films like “Vanilla Sky” and “Mulholland Dr.” look behind the curtain and ask us why we appreciate these fantasies, what wishes are being fulfilled or what truths pleasantly ignored. Imagine if every James Bond movie ended with Sean Connery suddenly waking up from a dream as 007 to find himself a clerk or a bus driver. He passes the women he dreamt of sleeping with and is told by a friend what part of his id or subconscious was being appeased by dreaming of blasting Communists in far-off lands. His lesson is our lesson, because we enjoyed watching it as much as he enjoyed doing it.
Anyway, “Vanilla Sky” is a worthwhile addition to the genre, even if it’s not always a successful one. With conventional, linear, and light-hearted character studies like “Jerry Maguire,” “Say Anything,” and “Almost Famous” under his belt, writer-director Cameron Crowe does not seem like he would be a good choice for the surreal. And, yes, sometimes Crowe’s chirpy, pop song-driven style is not appropriate and, no, the central romance between Cruise and Cruz is interesting only as an idea, and not as genuinely moving as, say, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine.” But directors always get oodles of brownie points from me when they step outside “their” genres, or turn different genres into their own. I say to myself, the daring of it! How can Crowe make the surreal into a romantic comedy?
Whether or not you like “Vanilla Sky” depends on whether you accept that moment when the movie peels back its curtain. It may seem like it comes out of leftfield—although in truth the solution has been sitting out in the open all along—but it does tie things together. Imagine if aliens were responsible for everything at the end of “Mulholland Dr.” It’s not that extreme, but it is a little awkward. The movie ends very far from where it begins. If that bothers you, well, sorry.
But perhaps I’m being too vague. “Vanilla Sky” follows a millionaire playboy (Tom Cruise, en route to his villain in “Collateral”) coasting through life, sleeping around, spending money, and living as if he’ll never die. Two women change his life: there is the struggling artist (Penelope Cruz) who makes him feel real love and makes him want to take charge of his vast responsibilities, and there’s the last of his floozies (Cameron Diaz, blankly, passionless creepy), who, like most people who just want to be “sex buddies,” is lying and in love. And, oh me oh my, is the timing bad. Car crashes, suicide, disfigurement, and reconstructive surgery ensue. Oh yes, and the bad dreams, and the guilt, and, one of my favorites, the circular narrative, in which we begin to wonder if we’re back where we started.
Cruise tries to pick up the pieces of his life, his friendships (Jason Lee in a dramatic turn), and his love, but something’s not right. Something’s off. Running parallel to Cruise’s two romances, his tragedy, and his recovery, is his interrogation at the hands of a police psychiatrist (Kurt Russell). He does the scenes masked—is he still disfigured, or crazy? There’s been a murder which he claims isn’t real, which he doesn’t feel is real. He blames his troubles on a conspiracy put into effect by his board of directories, a strange man (Noah Taylor) starts following him, and his formerly cold-hearted doctors are cheerful about experimental procedures. He keeps hearing the same phrases from different people again and again.
Crowe’s popularity gave him access to a hefty set of resources, chief among them a three-hour shoot in a completely emptied Times Square. His cast includes the likes of Timothy Spall (“Topsy-Turvy”), Noah Taylor (“Shine”), and Tilda Swinton (“The Deep End”) in small roles. Cinematographer John Toll (“The Thin Red Line,” “Braveheart”) creates a New York of slanted autumn light and crisp, rich skies, and art director Catherine Hardwicke (director of “Thirteen”) works like narrative shorthand. Crowe and Toll mine Cruise’s disfigurement for an enormous amount of rich imagery, and even humor, as he dances masked through a rave nightclub. By making Cruise’s character a high-powered owner of pop magazines like “Maxim” and “FHM,” and by setting him in the New York fastlane where appearances are so important, Crowe hopes to give greater depth to his tale of disfigurement and visual fakery.
But for all its byzantine artifice, “Vanilla Sky” is through-and-through the story of one man trying to improve himself, despite a huge number of hurtles. His biggest hurtle is the temptation to escape, into alcohol, into money, into fantasy. The movie keeps us moving from foot to foot, looking for clues, switching from tones of romance, comedy, and suspense, and brings the supernatural and the personal into contact. You won’t guess where things are going to end up.
Finished December 19th, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Friday & Saturday Night
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