Vanilla Sky transcends story *(some spoilers)*

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 2001)

this film is not for you if: 1. you were expecting a typical tom cruise holiday release (a no-brainer with a linear plot and hollywood-happy ending). 2. you were expecting cameron crowe to re-visit the idealism of Almost Famous or Say Anything. and let me just clarify, while it does bear some similarities to Lost Highway and (so i've been told) Mullholland Drive, this is NOT a david lynch film. cameron crowe's directorial style is much less understated than lynch's, and the dialogue and plot allow for more comic moments (most notably from interaction between cruise and jason lee). in a word, it's not nearly as dark as the typical david lynch faire (with the exception of The Straight Story, of course). however, this somewhat lighter approach to the psychological thriller is still light-years away from what we have come to expect from cameron crowe. the opening draws a few parallels to Jerry Maguire (the rich kid with women falling at his feet), but the film quickly shifts to a much more nightmarish tone with the car-crash scene, which in itself was absolutely brutal, in spite (or perhaps because) of the lack of any blood or gore--really the only moment where i wanted to look away. we then delve into the surreal, sometimes in david's (cruise) dreams, sometimes, more jarringly, in the real world (or what passes for it after his accident and disfigurement). this is where the most parallels to david lynch-style surrealism can be drawn: what is real? what is a dream? what has really happened? this film manages to be social commentary (investigating our deepest beliefs about life, death, love, technology, the media, our culture and our own minds), yet still hold together as a good STORY. we care what happens next (and we almost certainly cannot guess...). yes, crowe explains everything (or very nearly) in the last 15 minutes of the movie, but once you know what REALLY happened, it is impossible to ignore the clues that came before. many well-loved films, including The Sixth Sense, explain everything in their very last moments, but since Vanilla Sky bears a slight resemblance to the films of david lynch, should we (as many reviewers have) expect cameron crowe to leave everything unanswered (like lynch often does)? my answer is a firm "no." crowe obviously has something bigger than just story in mind here. see this film for the plot, for the acting and direction, but also see it as a commentary on life.