Reflections look bad, and somehow unreal (Open Your Eyes (DVD))

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	Open Your Eyes (DVD)
Date:	23/03/04 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: performances, strong narrative

Disadvantages: remake has a stronger soundtrack

Amenabar's debut film, Abre Los Ojos, is destined for a far wider international audience now it's been remade as a Tom Cruise vehicle. Plus of course, the director had his own international success story with The Others. I'm confident that the vast majority of people will find this debut superior to Vanilla Sky, and they'll be right. But not entirely right.

In any case, summarising the plot of this curious Spanish film is made a lot easier by the fact that Cameron Crowe recreated most of it shot for shot. The lead character is Cesar (Eduardo Noriega), a young man with money, looks and very few worries. We see him with attractive women, and with a host of well-wishers at a birthday party.

Except he's relating all this in flashback from a prison cell where he's being charged with murder.

Along the way to the prison cell, Cesar is maimed in a car crash and becomes infatuated with a woman called Sofia (Penelope Cruz).

As to whether it's any good or not, I think it's impossible to avoid comparing Abre Los Ojos to Vanilla Sky. This original version is vastly superior in terms of its plot and structure. The lurch towards science-fiction doesn't seem nearly as disjointed thanks to a 'cleaner' narrative in the first half. This film isn't cluttered by Crowe's obsession with rock culture, and it is utterly unconcerned with the hero's career. Although Cesar sporadically mentions the board who are trying to usurp his leadership of his inherited business empire (which is on a much smaller scale than Cruise's, it's a catering firm or something), we never see them, and he never really cares about them. In fact, the Board becomes an analogy for Cesar's own guilt and self-destructive urge. Cesar is much more concerned with developing his relationship with Sofia than anything else.

Crowe added a lot which was irrelevant in an attempt to remake Citizen Kane at the same
time as remaking this film. However, he did score over the original at exactly two points.

The first is the car crash. This is such a central scene in both versions, and yet Amenabar's is an unconvincing long shot of an already wrecked car. I can totally appreciate that this was probably due to budgetary restrictions, but there's really no comparison between his attempt and Crowe's impressive, almost graceful leap from a bridge.

The second is perhaps just my own tastes showing through, but never mind. The films' first scenes, where the hero gets up, washes and goes out through strangely deserted streets, are identical, near enough. The only difference is the music. Crowe's decision to play Radiohead's Everything in its Right Place over this scene was pure and undeniable genius.

In fact, the soundtrack is the one area where you really do find yourself missing Cameron Crowe's version. Never mind.

The acting and characterisation is fantastic here. Cesar is a deeply unpleasant character, who deserves most of the things that happen to him. Scenes where he is shunned by Sofia, or threatened by prison guards, are a lot more plausible than Cruise's efforts. He is a completely unlikeable, and thus extremely plausible character. He is upfront about wanting cosmetic surgery through sheer vanity, and he never tries to disguise the fact that he's seducing his best friend's girlfriend, even in his own mind.

Penelope Cruz also seems a lot more comfortable acting in this film, with less restless darting about, and less of a sense of embarrassment. Amenabar seems to understand his material a lot more clearly. Crowe chooses to reintroduce Cruz's character in a striking, carefully composed medium long shot, standing out alone against the skyline. Amenabar originally placed her next to a bizarre outcrop of silvery pipes. This intrusion of technology into Cesar's personal world is everywher
e in this original, and Crowe certainly chose to de-emphasise it in favour of film posters, album covers, smashed guitars and office politics, trying to make the film all things to all people.

This remarkable film is memorable mostly for its excellent script and understated direction. Where Vanilla Sky ultimately fails due to Tom Cruise's ego and Cameron Crowe's extremely conscious referential 'look how many films I've seen' cleverness, Abre Los Ojos narrows its focus on to the narrative, which manages to make the twist shocking, yet somehow appropriate at the same time.

And of course, there's always the possibility that Cesar is simply mad. Amenabar is a lot less willing to imply a grand Matrix-style conspiracy than his re-made work might suggest. I shan't go into details for those few who've managed to avoid the Vanilla Sky surprise ending. Suffice it to say that the sting in the tail is riddled with inconsistencies, and could easily be the product of a delusional mind driven to total psychosis by a refusal to accept responsibility for murdering his lover.

If you were taking the best of both worlds, you would replace this film's 'stalker' Nuria (easily the weakest link cast-wise) with Cameron Diaz, and add quite a few of the soundtrack selections, especially the Radiohead and REM tunes.

DVD is, as I have said before, very shiny, and possibly magic. The picture quality is, to be honest, not a stunning improvement from the copy I taped off air on Channel 4 a few years back, however it is nice and crisp and clear in the way we'd all expect. Other than that, there's little to say. Mine is a 'vanilla' release (quite appropriate given the remake) which doesn't even give the option for Spanish speakers to turn off the subtitles. There's scene selection and a nice still photo on the menu. No frills, no fuss, but it's generally fairly cheap (I got it for a fiver i
n HMV) and certainly the best way to experience the film available today.

And at the end of the day, this is a good film. For fans of more traditional cinema, this is a much more accessible version of the story than Vanilla Sky. It's not so cluttered, there's more chemistry between the cast and, well, there's a few people who don't like Tom Cruise much, aren't there?

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