Wake Up

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2001)

Contains Spoilers Too many times in film history are we handed the classical narrative structure on a silver platter. American audiences walk in to cinemas expecting some laughter, some tears, all wrapped up in a neat little package to finish the job.
But why? It's our format. But how long can happiness last? Does life really become constant when we are locked in that 'happy' or 'satisfied' state that we bring from the theater? The truth is, there are no happy endings. Oh, there are very happy moments, but nevertheless, life continues to push on in its seemingly malevolent way.
Why not, says Crowe, leave the audience with something to ponder. Why not leave them with something to discuss over dinner, something to lie awake at night wondering. Why simply feed aesthetic desires to encourage us to blink the event out of our minds. Film, above all mediums, must move us in a way we have never been moved before. It must divert our desires, feeding them gradually but never giving us the whole pie in one serving.
You may criticize "Vanilla Sky" as a one shot attempt for some big name actors to remake an already extant film. You may criticize it as an excuse to dissipate the classical narrative structure, because it's easier to confuse people than create a coherent plotline. It's easier to just shoot confusing garbage than find some symbolic means to link everything together. Well, you'd be dead wrong.
"Vanilla Sky" is a film which stands in a genre all its own: Surface Surrealism. As the surrealists believe, film is a dream, and this film is fully aware that it acts on dreams to create its own reality. Anything can, and does, happen.
Now I ask you this. When was the last time, in a dream, did something confusing or astonishing, shocking or tormenting, or so blatantly against every moral code you ever stood for, happen? Laws, morals, and above all, physics cease to exist in your dreamworld--your dreams explore POSSIBILITIES.
There is nothing wrong with this. Dreams can momentarily confuse you, frustrate you. They can cut you deep, they can reoccur and disrupt your life. How many times have you dreamt about someone and then faced them the following day? How many times did you experience something in your own life that you could swear you dreamt only the night before, or many months ago?
The problem in criticizing this film for being confusing lies in our own minds. So the film did not conform to what we expect. And why not? It acts on the science of dreams. And sometimes, inside of us, there are dreams that we would never dare share with the world. Respect the ones that did.