The Sky's the Limit

Those in search of a one-line synopsis for Vanilla Sky need look no further than the tagline—Open your eyes. It’s a simply stated yet comprehensive representation of life in all its confusing glory. Love and hate, dreams and life, work and play, friendship and sex. Everything is covered. Indeed, the line is as all-embracing as the movie is ambitious, as Academy Award-winning director Cameron Crowe attempts to update Alejandro Amenábar’s critically acclaimed 1997 film, Abre Los Ojos, for an American audience.

Crowe reteams with Jerry Maguire star Tom Cruise and producer Paula Wagner to bring us Vanilla Sky, the story of a young magazine mogul named David Aames who shirks responsibility and is forced by circumstances to undergo a psychological and emotional odyssey. When David (Cruise) meets the innocent beauty Sofia (Penélope Cruz, who revisits the role she plays in the original film), he incites the jealousy of his obsessive friend and occasional lover Julie (Cameron Diaz). Fueled by grief, Julie commits suicide by driving her car off a bridge with David in the passenger seat, an accident that results in David’s terrible disfigurement. How he deals with the consequences of his new reality forms the basis of the rest of the film.

Vanilla Sky defies categorization and is best described as a mish-mash of genres, with elements of humor, romance, mystery and suspense. The film is intricately layered, which is evident in its treatment of issues such as appearance versus reality, and casual sex versus true love. The relationships between David and his best friend Brian (Jason Lee) and his psychiatrist (Kurt Russell) provide a much-needed contrast to his relationships with the female characters, and serve to complicate an already complicated psychological portrait.

Scarring, in the form of both physical disfiguration and emotional injury, is a major theme of Crowe’s adaptation. The loss of David’s flawless appearance corresponds with a loss of personal control and the beginning of a downward emotional spiral. For much of the film, he chooses to hide behind a literal and figurative mask, and in many ways, the development of his character turns on his struggle to escape his confinement.

Vanilla Sky is innovative in many ways, particularly in the area of cinematography. Crowe’s direction provides the audience with a visual feast of sweeping exterior shots and creative camera angles, and the prevalence of dream sequences allows the director’s imagination to run wild. But in the process of breaking new ground, the film at times suffers in its departure from convention. The pacing is frenetic, and the disjointed nature of the narration results in a confusing unraveling of events. The movie raises too many questions for its own good, and is placed in the unfortunate position of having to hastily explain everything before the credits roll. Sadly, Vanilla Sky overshoots itself with its ambitious desire to do too much, resulting in a confusing collection of stylish but scattered images.

Still, the movie is notable in many ways—for its innovative interpretation of Amenábar’s vision, for Crowe’s cutting edge script and for the stellar performances of Cruise and Diaz—and many of the film’s flaws can be chalked up to the inherent difficulties of the subject matter. If nothing else, Vanilla Sky is at the very least an eye-opening experience.

Vanilla Sky, starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz, is directed by Cameron Crowe and released by Paramount Pictures.