An interesting film filled with plot twists, worth watching twice...

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2011)

Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky tells the story of David Aames played by Tom Cruise and his relationship with two women Sofia Serrano played by Penelope Cruz and Julie Gianni played by Cameron Diaz. David is a man who basically has it all, rich, good looking and fortunate. He has everything or believes he can have it. The film itself can be confusing as the plot unfolds in a backward manner that makes it hard to grasp exactly what is going on. Often you might find yourself thinking did you see that right or thinking something as a fact when it was not what it seemed.
The theme of the film Vanilla Sky is dreams and the minds interpretation of reality. David has trouble distinguishing between the two states. His dreams seem real to him, an example is when he is driving through New York and he is the only person around. There is no other cars on the road, no people walking he is alone. This is also a symbolic reference to his life and how he feels like he is alone. The film scene transitions also make you feel like a dream. The scenes cut to black then to another entirely different time or place.
David is a rich guy who inherited the family business after his parents were killed in a car crash. He is carrying on a relationship with Julie however this is more of a one sided relationship, she cares for David but is only a sex partner to him. A short time later David meets Sofia at a party. Sofia is at the party as the date of one of David's friends Brian played by Jason Lee but ends up spending more time with David than Brian. David then takes Sofia home and they seem to have a good time and like each other but do not sleep together. Upon leaving Sofia's home David is somehow confronted by Julie who is upset but talks David into going for a drive in her car.
From here the movie takes a turn in some surprise directions and becomes harder to follow. Julie and David argue about their relationship, eventually Julie drives her car off a bridge killing herself and results in plastic surgery for David on his face and arm. The accident leaves David disfigured or wearing a facial prosthetic for much of the remaining movie.
From this point in the movie the surprises and twists happen a mile a minute. David is accused of murder and spends a great deal of time talking to a psychiatrist played by Kurt Russell. As the plot winds backwards much the same way the film Memento does you can tell something is not as it seems David sees many times a dog which was frozen and brought back to life. This leads to the discovery that he did the same thing. David had visited a corporation that uses computers and a deep freeze technique to give people dreams and prolong their lives indefinitely. During much of the movie David is actually having a nightmare. The twist and realization at the end of the movie give reason to watch the film again as you should now have a different prospective to view the movie.
The theme of dreams being difficult to differentiate from reality is emphasized the closer you get to the end of the film. We cannot really control our dreams and while we are having them we are at their mercy. Much like David is, he lives out much of the film in a dream he has no control over until the very end. This is when he really realizes it is a dream and chooses to live a real life.