Vanilla Sky
From Open Encyclopedia
{{Infobox_Film
|name = Vanilla Sky
|image = Vanilla Sky poster.jpg
|director = Cameron Crowe
|writer = Alejandro Amenábar,
Mateo Gil,
Cameron Crowe
|starring = Tom Cruise,
Penélope Cruz,
Cameron Diaz,
Kurt Russell
|producer = Cameron Crowe,
Tom Cruise,
Paula Wagner
|distributor= Paramount Pictures
|budget = ~ US$68,000,000
|released= 10 December 2001
|runtime = 136 minutes
|language = English
|imdb_id = 0259711
|}}
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 film which tells a story of a young multi-millionaire who is charged with murder.
The film stars Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Penélope Cruz, Jason Lee, and Kurt Russell. The film was directed by Cameron Crowe and is a close remake of the 1997 Spanish film Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil. Penélope Cruz appeared in the original film in the same role. The film grossed around 100 million dollars in the U.S.
Early in the film, the principal character mentions Monet's "vanilla sky" in a painting.
Contents |
Plot
Tom Cruise plays David Aames, a handsome and spoiled young man who is severely disfigured in an automobile accident caused by Julianna "Julie" Gianni (Cameron Diaz). Things become tense between David and his friend Brian (Jason Lee) — and between David and Sofía (Penélope Cruz), who forms one-third of an awkward love triangle with David and Brian. Approximately halfway through the film, David begins to have a series of very disorienting experiences culminating in his arrest for a murder of a woman alleged to be Sofía but whom he believes to be Julie. Psychologist Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell), working on David's case, becomes something of a father figure to him.
During much of the film, the skies are all "vanilla", just as in Monet's painting(s) — perhaps a little too much like the painting(s). That is the only clue that we are in a fantasy film about simulated reality, because the film seems to be about modern life and a successful womanizer who becomes the victim of a Fatal Attraction.
It is eventually revealed that this entire portion of the film has been an extended dream, assembled largely from pop-cultural images (it is also revealed that Dr. McCabe is wholly fictional). This simulated reality is the creation of a cryonics company called Life Extension (LE) that has sold the protagonist David (played by Cruise) a "lucid dream", which the company calls the "cryonic union of science and entertainment." The subject's body is kept frozen, but his or her mind is left to roam free in a simulated reality that branches from the real life at a certain point (so the subject has no recollection of his death). If something goes wrong with the simulation, the company can send technical support (played by Noah Taylor) to the subject.
Unlike the plethora of films such as "Total Recall", eXistenZ, The Thirteenth Floor, etc., where the ambiguity of whether one is experiencing the reality or an illusion is a critical point used to support the ending, this film does not use this trick. The two layers — the reality and the simulation are distinct and David can himself choose when to exit the simulation. He does so and presumably ends up in the mid-22nd century, with his face restored and himself mortal and ready for the new real life in the future.
However, there is ambiguity as to whether or not he arrives in the future, or awakens at an early point in "reality", because the final shot, of David's eye opening and hearing a woman speak bears a striking resemblance to the first shot of the portion of the film which was set in the lucid dream. If the lucid dream was in fact a dream of David's, a dream within a dream, and he is awakening in the 20th/21st century, then comparison can be drawn between the film and the tale of Scrooge, whose dreams changed his life.
The Monet painting depicted in the film is "Seine at Argenteuil" ([1]), as can be seen clearly in the birthday episode at David's house.
The motifs of this film bear a strong resemblance to those in the works of the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, which typically feature unreliable reality, a father figure and a vindictive woman. Dick's Ubik, in particular, includes a cryonic suspension state - 'half-life' - with similar properties to LE.
Although most reviews were negative (with the notable exception of Roger Ebert) due to its overly complex and somewhat pretentious narrative its ending is generally seen as its most beautiful part. On top of a skyscraper with the vanilla sky all around David sees a last image of Sofia, declares to her 'I'll see you in another life... when we are both cats!' and then jumps off the building. Music from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros (Untitled 4 from the () album) plays in the background as Davids life flashes before his eyes, everything stops, and someone says 'open your eyes'.
Taglines
- LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex
- Looks Can Be Deceiving!
- Open Your Eyes
- Forget everything you know, and open your eyes.
- Abre los ojos...
- Forget everything you know about life, and just open your eyes...
- Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.
Trivia
- The scene with Tom Cruise alone in Times Square is not computer enhanced. The production was given unprecedented permission to shut down Times Square for three hours on a Sunday.
- Cameron Crowe says that there are 428 references to pop culture made in the film - 429 if you include one made in error.
- The sticker on David's car reads 2/30/01, a fictional date. On the commentary, Cameron Crowe says that it was an accident, although it led to one of the different interpretations of the story.
- Penelope Cruz is the only actress to play the same character in the Spanish and the American remake.
- The filmmakers asked for, and recieved, a few paintings by Ralph Bakshi to use in the set designs for Tom Cruise's apartment. [2] While the credit "Painting by Ralph Bakshi Courtesy of Ralph Bakshi" can be seen during the end credits, it is not known exactly how much or which of his artwork was used.
