Sweet and Sour Cinema: Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2007)

The film Vanilla Sky was adapted for American audiences from a Spanish foreign film called Abre Los Ojos meaning open your eyes. Cameron Crowe writes the screenplay and directs this americanized version. Vanilla Sky provides an A-list cast including Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz,Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, and Kurt Russell. The movie details a series of very strange events in the life of thirty-something, spoiled publishing tycoon David Aames, played by Tom Cruise. Brian Shelby,played by actor Jason Lee, is his best friend and a source of reason and wisdom for David. Juliana Gianni, played by Cameron Diaz, becomes very jealous and possessive of David after he blows off their casual sexual relationship to pursue the romantic affections of Sophia Serrano, played by actress Penelope Cruz. Through these events David Aames begins to realize that something is wrong with the world and finds out he is only too right but in a way so strange and surprising that it challenges the imagination. Cameron Crowe makes excellent use of dialog, symbolism, and structure to support the film's key concepts and themes. He also makes use of them by hiding clues to the overall mystery throughout the film in the dialog and in visual symbolism. Crowe presents many valid points through the themes and concepts concerning the importance of dreams, desires, and the human mind.
The use of dialog and symbolism to reveal subtle clues to the viewer can be found throughout Vanilla Sky. Throughout the entire film people keep telling David to wake up or open his eyes, inferring the he is sleeping or not really awake. Aames refers to his company's board members as the seven dwarfs which would make him Snow White who fell into a deep sleep after eating a poison apple in the children's story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This becomes more relevant later when it is revealed that David overdoses on his medications in order to end his real life so that he may begin his lucid dream in cryo-stasis. In one scene Sophia asks David if this is all a dream and he replies absolutely though they mean in reference to the state of post-relations bliss they are both enjoying at the time. The psychologist character, played by Kurt Russell, asks David during his interview if he knows the difference between dreams and reality. Several clues lie hidden within the visuals of the film and are symbols of their hidden meanings. The Monet painting in Aames' apartment is called Vanilla Sky, and after the night David passes out in the street the real sky itself becomes like that of the painting signifying where the lucid dream begins. Many times in the film Life Exstension, cryogenics, and a thawed out dog named Benny are either discussed directly by the characters or by others on televisions being watched by the characters, this is David's sub-conscious piecing together memories supposedly erased by the Life Exstension process. In this way Crowe shows how David's memories of his former real life begin to bleed through becoming mixed with those created solely within the lucid dream. Crowe uses these devices to give the viewer subliminal glimpses of the true nature of the plot.
There are many themes and key concepts in regard to life, dreams, and the human mind in this film. Two of the more prominent re-occurring lines in Vanilla Sky are "the sweet is never as sweet without the sour" and "every minute that passes is a chance to turn it all around". The first phrase is a piece of sage advice given to David by his friend Brian on several different occasions. The writer may be making an assertion to life in general, but also regarding the relationship between the waking world and that of dreams. Perhaps Crowe wishes to express that dreams are a form of escapism for us from the harsh real world. The second phrase is repeated throughout the film to David by several people. It can also be seen as a generic statement about life and taking advantage of second chances, but more specifically it is advice given to David when he begins to despair or become afraid of the chaos, confusion, and insanity he is experiencing. This is meant as a trigger to remind his sub-conscious that he can call for help from tech support at any moment. The phrase in the dialog, "the sub-conscious is a powerful thing", can be considered the central concept for the film as a whole. Within the film it answers the how question of what is really happening to David Aames. Externally the film uses similar techniques, playing on the sub-conscious of the viewer by subtly manipulating the style and structure in coherence with the themes of the story.
Cameron Crowe takes advantage of his role as the director and screenplay adapter by incorporating into the film's style and structure key elements to the conceptual nature of the film itself. The film's style was somewhat surreal with the colors being more vibrant after the lucid dream splice had taken place. The structure and flow of the film is helpful in projecting the feeling of dreams. Much like a lot of real dreams the story jumps around within the plot's time line but keeps an overall forward motion. Also, like in dreams, there are instances of lines that do not fit or make sense in the context that they are spoken. Many of these random lines are meant to be clues, such as "this is a revolution of the mind", spoken randomly to David by a man he passes by in the hall of the police station. This is reminiscent of how dialog in dreams doesn't always make sense in the context of the dreams themselves. Crowe uses these types of techniques to make the movie experience that much more psychologically interactive for the viewer; to truly transport them into the world of Vanilla Sky, a world of dreams.