VANILLA SKY

US, 2013, 136 minutes, Colour.
Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Timothy Spall, Noah Taylor, Tilda Swinton.
Directed by Cameron Crowe.

Vanilla Sky is the American version of the Spanish film, Abre los ojos, directed by Aleyandro Amanabar.

Tom Cruise portrays a wealthy young man, arrogant in business, womanising, fickle in his relationships. However, the narrative is not straightforward. Even in the opening, Cruise’s character, David, wakes up twice, looks at himself in the mirror, goes driving, first of all in empty streets. The audience is challenged, as is the character eventually, to try to work out what is real and what is unreal.

This is further complicated by his driving with his girlfriend, Cameron Diaz, and their crashing. His face is disfigured and he wears a mask. He is apprehended by the police, responsible for her death. He is also seeing a psychiatrist, played by Kurt Russell, to try to come to terms with what is real and what is not.

And there is a further complication with the presence of Sophia, Penelope Cruz reprising her role from the original film. At times, in his imagination, David interchanges the two women in his life.

There is also the big business theme and the meeting of the board, with Timothy Spall as its liaison with David. And there is his friend, played by Jason Lee, who feels betrayed by him.

The film also changes gear towards the end when the theme of cryogenics is introduced the possibility for the company to alter memories and to alter lives. Noah Taylor appears as the representative of the company and there is an interview with Tilda Swinton.

Cameron Crowe, who worked with Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, was a journalist for Rolling Stone (the theme of his film, Almost Famous). He has written the screenplay himself and incorporates a great deal of contemporary music.

A tantalising film.

1. The audience sharing the experience of David, his story, the characters in his lives, reality and unreality, fantasy, dreams, final challenge?

2. The original Spanish film? Transferred to the United States? the cast, the director?

3. The screenplay and its narrative, the broken time zones, interconnections, reality and unreality? Waking and re-awakening? Living where? Characters, identities changing? The accident, death? The police? Who was in the car? David disfigured, the mask? The psychologist and his work? Understanding the dreams?

4. The mysterious man in the bar, Edmund Ventura, revelation of the contract, the company, cryogenics, the layout and glamour of the offices? Rebecca Dearborn and the interview? Explanations, the visuals, changing lives, forgetting the past, a new life, immortality, the nature of the choices?

5. David, initially waking, looking at himself in the mirror, the effect, going out, no traffic? Waking up again? Julie present? Interactions with her? The ordinariness? Driving? Driving with Brian, sharing with him? The exhilaration of David’s life? His work? The Seven Dwarfs and the board meetings? Thomas Tipp and his advice? Decisions?

6. The party, Brian and Sophia, the attraction, his birthday, the cake, the celebration, his taking Sophia, their talking, the meanings of life? Julie arriving, stalking him, the reactions?

7. Julie, with David, the drive, the talk, dangerous driving, the crash and her death?

8. The police, David, the arrest, in the prison?

9. David, the surgery, the doctors and the committee?

10. David, his face, wearing the mask? The psychiatrist? The warnings by Tipp?

11. Julie and Sophia, mixing identities and appearances, claiming to be Sophia, the effect?

12. The discussions with the psychiatrist, his help, the time limits, the situation with the police, prison? His saying he would support him always?

13. The bar, Edmund Ventura, going to the firm, the explanations? David listening to the explanations, his life, the choices, the psychiatrist urging him that he was real, yet not knowing the names of his children…?

14. David, the roof, his fear of heights, the dive?

15. Reliving his life, and its meaning?

16. The reference to Monet, the vanilla sky? Reality and unreality, bending reality, the range of songs and the score.