.................... FILM SCENE ....................
VANILLA
SKY (2001)
Directed/Written By Cameron Crowe
Starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee
Picture
the scene: New York city. You wake up, it's time to go to work. Your driving
through one of the busiest cities in the world. Something is not quite right.
You hit Time Square, stop your car and get out, your heart rate is pumping.
You start running in total disbelief - there is absolutely nobody around! Here
we have the opening shot of Vanilla Sky, and you just know you are entering
into a strange world.
When Tom
Cruise watched, Spanish director's Aejandro Amenabar's (who, coincidently, directed
The Others, starring Cruise's ex, Nicole Kidman) 1997 thriller Après
Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) he immediately fell in love with it. Along with movie
producing partner Paula Wagner he snapped up the remake rights. Enter Cameron
Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous), a former Rolling Stone journalist, who
Tom wanted to work with again. Vanilla Sky is the result.
Cruise plays
David Aames, a thirty something wealthy playboy, who's happy to have a 'sex
buddy' relationship with Julie (Cameron Diaz). That is until he meets the love
of his life, in the form of the down to earth, Sofia (Penelope Cruz - who coincidently
plays the same character in the original movie) at his birthday party, where
Steven Spielberg makes a brief cameo, as himself. David starts to have feelings
he never knew existed. This is the real deal for him, much to the dissatisfaction
of the possessively jealous Julie.
However,
only hours after meeting Sofia, David makes a decision that has far-reaching
consequences. A car crash involving, the now, suicidal Julie, leaves her dead,
and David with a mangled face (It's worth the price of the ticket to see Tom
Cruise, the golden, handsome boy of Hollywood playing a role where his face
is covered in a prosthetic mask for much of the movie, and when we do see it,
well it's not a pretty sight - thanks to make up artist Michele Burkes).
Things go
very strange for David from here on in. He ends up being charged with murder,
and having his mental state assessed by shrink Dr McCabe (Kurt Russell), who
has to find out if David can distinguish between (the somewhat fine line between)
dreams and reality.
Vanilla
Sky is a whodunit, a thriller, a thought provoking love story, a film with more
twists and turns than Chubby Checker, too many to go into too much detail.
But one thing is sure, it will keep you glued to every scene, not knowing which
way it is going to take you.
Bryan Duncan
© 2002
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