Vanilla Sky
Review
by : Gareth Von Kallenbach
Starring:
Tom Cruise (David), Penelope Cruz (Sofia),
Jason Lee (Brian), Cameron Diaz (Julie)
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
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It has been said that there is a fine line between sanity
and madness and that some people skirt the edges of the two
extremes daily. This theory also opens the door to larger
questions such as what is sane and what is crazy, and who
gets to make the definition in order to classify an individual
or group. There is also the issue of traumatic stress disorder
where a person may behave in an insane way part of the time,
as a result of a traumatic incident and can return to normal
functioning ability at a moments notice. In the new Cameron
Crowe film "Vanilla Sky" the issues of the mind, and its myriad
of perceptions comes to the forefront of larger issues against
a backdrop of a life gone out of control.
At the
outset of the film, viewers are introduced to David Aames
(Tom Cruise), a spoiled rich kid, who lives life on his terms.
Having inherited a large publishing empire from his late father,
David spends his time bedding supermodels and making his own
rules. He is a man of position and influence and the power
people all want to be a part of his world and have a moment
of his time. While hosting a lavish Birthday party for himself,
David meets an enticing young lady named Sofia (Penelope Cruz),
who is being escorted to the party by David's best friend
a writer named Brian Shelby (Jason Lee). Brian tells David
that he really likes Sofia but is willing to let David have
a chance with her in the interest of friendship. David starts
to charm Sofia, but in doing so draws the jealousy of model
Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) as David has been sleeping with
her and making no effort to treat it as any more than a casual
thing. David ignores Julie the rest of the night and eventually
takes Sofia to her place as they spend the night talking and
listening to music. As David is heading home in the morning,
he encounters Julie and she convinces him to take a car ride
with her. What starts out as a fun conversation quickly takes
a turn for the worse as it is revealed that Julie is determined
to make David love her and she believes that since he has
had sex with her, he owes her some sort of emotional response.
In a fit of rage, Julie drives the car off a bridge, killing
herself and leaving David badly disfigured and crippled.
David
awakens to find his life has gone horribly wrong. Despite
extensive surgery, his face is still a mass of scars, he has
become a shut in, Sofia does not want to be around him, and
the board of his publishing company seems determined to take
control of his company from him.
The story
is told in a series of flashbacks as David in the custody
of the Police for a crime that he claims he did not commit.
As David is being interviewed by Dr McCabe(Kurt Russell),
in an effort to determine his sanity to stand trial, David
thinks that he is being setup by the members of his board
in an attempt to gain control of his company. David eventually
reunites with Sofia and has his appearance restored through
a new surgical technique. As David starts to reclaim his life,
his relationship with Sofia grows and he is happy. Happiness
is fleeting for David However as he starts to see Julie when
he is with Sofia. The Sofia he has grown to love seems to
have vanished and been replaced by the woman he knew as Julia.
Complicating matters further is that pictures of the couple
and David's friends seem to indicate that Julia is indeed
Sofia and that the woman he knew as Sofia never existed. Faced
with these circumstances, David begins a rapid descent into
madness and violence and begins to question everything while
those around him question his sanity.
Cruise
is unsympathetic in the role of David, as the audience never
cares about his character, as despite everything, he remains
the same self-centered individual throughout the film. Lee
and Diaz are sadly underused in the film and more than once
I questioned why someone did not just hit David and why they
continued to let him push them around even when his influence
and power were removed from him.
Penelope
Cruz is an cute actress, but she is given little to do in
this film aside from smile and deliver her lines in an accent
that makes it difficult to understand what she is saying at
times and become little more that set dressing in many scenes.
Cruise is getting to old to play the pretty boy roles and
his range of expression in the film is limited to a frustrated
scream and a pseudo calm delivery that sounds like he is trying
to deliver his lines as fast as he can in some scenes. There
is very little chemistry between Cruise and Cruz and for two
people who were supposed to be an on screen couple while filming
I found this hard to believe. It seems that the whole relationship
between them could have been a studio fabrication to take
the attention away from the divorce and rumors surround Cruise
and Nicole Kidman. The funny thing is, the same thing seemed
to happen years ago with Kidman and Cruise when filming "Days
of Thunder" while Cruise was divorcing Mimi Rogers amidst
a swirl of rumors. One thing is for certain you can bet that
Penelope Cruz will be given a better range of roles in the
future and the publicity surrounding the stars will create
interest in the film.
The studios
have insisted that reviewers do not give the ending of the
film away, and as that is not my policy to begin with let
me just say that it was very absurd and unsatisfying. Even
as the conclusion of the film unfolded, many in the audience
sat in disbelief and commented about the ending negatively
as we exited the theater. The ending could have worked, but
much like the rest of the film, it was a lazy and uninspired
effort. My suggestion is to avoid this film and instead rent
"Abre Los Ojos" which was the inspiration for this film.
Gareth
Von Kallenbach
Gareth@nwlink.com
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