Surrealistic mental exercise--not for the casual viewer

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2004)

David Aames (Tom Cruise) is a wealthy publisher who suddenly has the props kicked out...of a world he thrived in. Eventually all seems well again, until a nightmare worse than before takes over.
Cruise and company are at work in a complicated, time-shifting, special effects, symbolic filmmaker's world. This movie probably won't work as a late show feature just before dozing off. It has to be watched attentively, and more than once. It contains clues about Aames and his situation but can be viewed without looking for those--the viewer has to pay attention nonetheless!
I quickly developed an affinity for Vanilla Sky which was in production during my surgeries for a congenital brain aneurysm. Aames is acrophobic and scarred, although much more severely than me. In his Lucid Dream, he interacts with a girl he barely knew in real life. His is named Sophia, mine is Janet. He is unknowingly in a dream state for 150 years, for me it was only a couple of weeks. I could go on and on, but this is a commentary on Vanilla Sky, not MY Lucid Dream!