Mental (Vanilla Sky (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	Vanilla Sky (DVD)
Date:	28/01/02 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stylish, absorbing, funny

Disadvantages: The ending will turn some people off, it's a bit meaningless, Cruise's teeth

Having been aggressively trailed and advertised in cinema auditoria, television screens and bus shelters, you have to wonder what the average audience member will make of Cameron Crowe's 'Vanilla Sky', a vehicle for the world's biggest male star Tom Cruise. For half-an-hour, you have a sparky drama, with Cruise as publishing heir David Aames, selfish, feckless but utterly beguiling to dependent women (Cameron Diaz in feline mode as his occasional lover Julie), sceptical but devoted friends (Jason Lee), and foxy dancers he's only just met (Penelope Cruz as Sophia). But David's sexual irresponsibility tips the world upside down - having fallen instantly in love with Sophia, David foolishly goes for a drive with Julie, only to find that she has determined to kill herself, and him also.

This is a film of three distinct parts: part one, pre-car crash, with the drama made slightly unsettling by the fact that Aames, wearing a weird latex mask, is relating the story to a psychologist (Kurt Russell), and under a charge of murder. Part two, post-crash, is disconcerting, with Aames initially unable to adjust to life with his face gruesomely shattered, and the people around him alienated. Part three is just madness, with our seemingly rehabilitated hero finding weird and inexplicable conspiracies and events dogging him at every turn.

There is, if you stay the course, a clear explanation for the film's increasing bizarre tone and imagery. From the outset, Aames is presented as someone with a powerful imagination, and an inability to tell the difference between his dreams and reality, and in the end, Crowe is honest enough to explain exactly what's going on, but by then, some people's patience will have been stretched to breaking point.

It is an incredibly stylish film, with brilliant dialogue sustained across the whole film, and a series of superb performances. Cruise handles what is actually quite an easy part with
assurance, unfazed by the amount of screen-time he has to spend with grisly makeup that all too easily looks like the result of reconstructive surgery (he is compensated by the abnormal number of scenes which gratuitously spotlight his muscular torso). He's supported well by Diaz, playing the psycho stalker exceptionally well, and Cruz, who actually manages to communicate some of the charm she showed in her Spanish-language movies for the first time. Best in the acting stakes are the supporting cast of character actors - Jason Lee, Kurt Russell, Timothy Spall, and Tilda Swinton - who give the film real life and charisma.

I haven't seen the film on which this movie is based ('Abre les ojos', directed by Alejandro Amenabar, who directed the ex-Mrs Cruise Nicole Kidman in 'The Others'), but this is an impressively surreal and compelling movie. The opening sequence, in which Cruise drives around a deserted New York city in his dreams, is possibly the best bit, but in its dedication to blurring the line between fantasy and reality, 'Vanilla Sky' strays admirably close to the world of David Lynch. Indeed, the late appearance of Noah Taylor, an impassive visitor to Aames' world, seems like he has wandered straight from the set of 'Lost Highway'.

Crowe is obsessed with pop culture (music in 'Singles' and 'Almost Famous', sport in 'Jerry Maguire'), and this is very much a valentine to the music and movies that are important to his generation - there are endless references to songs, movies, album covers and TV shows throughout the film, which gradually allow you a chance to work out where exactly Aames is going. It's not perfect, and a lot of audiences may be suckered in on the promise of a love-triangle drama with tragic overtones, only to be hurled headlong into a morass of symbolism and bizarre events. Even though Crowe doesn't want to leave you in the dark like David Lynch (the
Guardian is currently running a competition for people who can explain 'Mulholland Drive'), it's still a disconcerting experience for anyone who fancies a quiet night out.

People who regularly read my reviews will know that I love any movie that deviates from the standard, predictable Hollywood experience - this is very much that kind of territory. Conventional names like Cruise and Crowe deserve applause for a concerted attempt to try something different, and more or less succeeding. 'Vanilla Sky' might not entirely be your cup of tea, but it's certainly more diverting than the usual old thing, and is a worthwhile guessing game if nothing else.

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