"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around"
I love, love, LOVE this movie, for various reasons that are usually met with furrowed brows and the sounds of "wait...that weird movie with Tom Cruise about the future and freezing your body after you die?" YES THAT ONE. Which is fine. No one need truly understand my continued devotion to the idea that this movie is a metaphor FOR LIFE, but I shall try to outline some enticing reasons for you here just to make my point, and hopefully sway a few more loyal fans.
Lets do this:
1)The Screenplay
Lord knows this movie is weird. Cameron Crowe, who adapted the screenplay from the original film Abre Los Ojos, does his damnest to create large colorful metaphors in his films usually (Jerry Maguire = Love and Redemption, Almost Famous = Self Discovery and Love, Elizabethtown = Love, Redemption, Self Discovery and Boring the hell out of you) and with Vanilla Sky he is in rare form. Not merely because this movie does not have an actual concrete message, theme, or anecdote - as a matter of fact the entire things is like a visual poem. It is words and sounds and allusions and imagery and clues and suggestions and double entendre. There is no right or wrong, no clear summation, no big pretty bow tied around it to make you feel better. Crowe is pretty clear in his presentation of this convoluted drama: It is what you make it. And my contention is, if the movie makes you angry and frustrated and irritated, its because it is baiting you to ask some questions, to look beyond the surface, to not just sit in front of your screen like lemmings and be content to walk away unaffected. It does not give you the answers - it begs you to create your own. And that my friends, is what good writing should do. Vanilla Sky makes you think - Imagine that.
2) Tom Cruise
Lets be honest here: The roadshow of crazy that has all but consumed T-dog over the last year (Has it been a year? Im so uninterested in his faux-life I dont even care) has really left a bad taste in everyones mouth concerning Maverick. Which brings up a good point: Top Gun might be the last movie I really liked him in. For reals. Im really not all that fond of Shorty McShoeLifts and his penchant for dating/marrying/contractually obligating women who are much taller than he and who are also prone to weird bouts of coy. (ENOUGH with the shy closed mouth smiles and eyelash batting - unless you are doing secret ocular morris code for "Gather a white steed and some rope and I will meet you 'round back. Freedom is at hand!")
FINE. Im a liar. I just read his filmography and there are about 12 others movies of his that I actually loved. Far and Away, A Few Good Men, Interview with a Vampire - I want my money back for MI3 however!
Hold the phone though - most of the time, his performances are Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise saves the world, Tom Cruise investigates murders, Tom Cruise spray paints his hair with Halloween silver spray and is the shortest, most well-dressed hit man in Jaime Fox's cab. We get it.
But TC was actually brilliant in this film, mostly because you forgot for a minute that he is Tom Cruise - but instead an infuriatingly smug trust fund baby turned brutally vulnerable and lovesick cripple. The makeup is so disturbing, and Tom's insecurities so glaringly apparent and well portrayed, that there are many scenes that are actually horribly uncomfortable to watch. Tom Cruise is stripped of all that makes him Tom Cruise, and he acts the shit out of it behind a latex mask. Its an amazing performance.
2) Penelope Cruz
Im sitting here racking my brain trying to remember what else Penny has been in that has given me such strong and fond emotion for her. Captain Mandorelies Candles...Captain Nelson Mandella...what is that movie called??? At any rate, I dont think that was it. It certainly was not the horse movie she made with Matt Damon, nor the desert movie she made with Mcconaughey. Im thinking now that my love for her really stems from this one and only performance - rife with a really thick and endearing spanish accent, wherein she got most of the really good one liners.
"I love this apartment, and I REFUSE to clean up!"
"Truth is I work nights as a dental assistant...but I dont dance like you dance."
Okay, so taken out of context and totally devoid of her intoxicating voice, these are not that interesting. Yet trust me, she is so adorable in this movie, and perfects something that is truly rare for an actress - saying so much while saying so little.
3) Jason Lee & Cameron Diaz
Henceforth, these two should never be mentioned in tandem again, but this serves my purpose here by forcing me to be concise. Cameron bugs me, mainly because she does not seem to realize that she aint that hot anymore. Seriously, pop in a VHS of The Mask and remind yourself of a time when she wasnt wearing one of her own. (See what I did there?? Im ashamed, look away) Yet she has gotten a little joker-ish lately, no? Regardless, Cam as Juliana is psychotically frightening as a suicidal stalker and emotionally pathetic hanger-on of Tom's David. Im pretty sure this hit a little close to home when Justin gave her the heave ho in favor of someone a little less long in the tooth. She is, indeed, the saddest girl to ever hold a martini. Or Criss Angel's Wang. Allegedly.
And finally, Mr. Lee. I love him, and not merely because he is representing for Huntington Beach skater boys everywhere. Chasing Amy is like my favorite movie ever. Mall Rats? Please.
Jason, as Brian, has some of the best lines ever committed to film:
"You're in OJ land man!"
"I good you bid evening"
"She was a proximity infatuation...dont take that, thats mine"
"Brian: You're rich and women love you, and I'm from Ohio and I'm drunk. Can I tell you the truth?
David: Everybody does.
Brian: I dig her, and I've never said this to you before about any girl. But she could be, could be, could be, could be the girl of my f*cking dreams.
David: You're not from Ohio.
Brian: I know"
"David: You're not blind. You're drinking Jack Daniels, and when you drink Jack, you start in with that... Frank Sinatra, she shot me down, give me a cigarette, "King of Sad" thing.
Brian: That I do. Give me a cigarette."
Final Thoughts:
This movie is an acid trip of flashbacks, dream sequences, confusion, sadness, elation, prosthetics, car wrecks, cryogenics, nightmares, reality, and radiohead.
In order to enjoy, just let it wash over you.
All you have to do is Abre Los Ojos....Open your eyes.
1 comment:
comedic genious once again...oh and now i think we need to rent this and obviously watch it together since i get the feeling i may not get some of it.
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