Needs a few touches, but I enjoyed it

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2010)

From my point of view, it is a bit difficult to know how much credit to give Vanilla Sky for integrity or smarts when taking into account that it is a remake of a film which I have never seen (Abre Los Ojos). Cameron Crowe's remake (regardless of what it owes to the Spanish film) has its weak spot but is fairly enjoyable.
The movie is part drama/romance part surrealism. Surrealist films are pretty tricky. I like my surrealism to be appreciable and clever (Donnie Darko, Altered States) rather than self- indulgent and disorienting (Mulholland Dr.) Vanilla Sky is a case of the former. It is arty, yet manages to tell a narratively coherent story, which allows for viewer investment. Vanilla Sky can range from funny to frightening and or from cold to touching. It is full of mood swings, and despite the fact that the finished product feels like three movies, it is never dull. (although the ending may be a couple minutes too long)
What I like about Vanilla Sky is how it (eventually) acknowledges that the viewer is being put on a borderline of dream and reality. Instead of an 'open to interpretation' scenario, The screenplay comes with a good share of climactic explanation, which enriches the thematic material and the emotion. It is essential that Vanilla Sky be a subjective story. We have to be one with Tom Cruise. Even though he is not entirely a respectable character, we come to understand him by the end.
The character, I have no problem with. I was more bothered by the performance. Cruise brings his character to life in a fashion that is too spectacular for comfort. Basically he overacts. This kind of 'kabuki theatre' performance may have been more understandable if Stanley Kubrick was directing. In scene one, he drives through Times square, and there is not a soul to be seen. This I find impressive. It hard to imagine any film production company (not even Spielbergs) having the power to clear and block off one of the World's most famous and busiest commerical areas. (Usually movie companies come to Toronto to recreate New York). For all I know this could have been a digital effect. Either way, it looks flawless.
If anything, it just goes to show that Vanilla Sky always has your attention, right from the beginning. To be able to sustain that for two hours in a movie that has a sense of unconventional artiness to it is impressive. It's not a terrific movie, but it has been thought through and executed well enough, that it is recommendable as both a surrealist movie and a emotional drama.