Joni's Clouds for Dummies

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2001)

Spoilers herein.
I was prepared to not like this film; Crowe too consistently centers his vision on the cheap shot. And Cruise -- well, it is hard to be an intelligent actor when you're as dumb as a flagpole knob. I found my worst fears to be true, but also found some strong, really strong elements that make this worth watching.
First the bad. Most films are built on other films; some -- especially recently -- openly quote other films. Some of these are also in the category of films about constructed realities, and that's when things can get interesting: you go to a film to construct a reality for you, and the story is about constructing a reality. Often these fold with sophistication. But here they do this intrinsically intelligent thing in a fifth grade dumb way. Not Monet, but paint by the numbers.
The film is about fantasy love and deciding between lovers. Rather than quote 'Jules and Jim' on this in a light way as anyone else would: Crowe puts a floor-to-ceiling poster in Cruise's bedroom, then when a voice ('tech support') explains that the constructed images were taken from movies, we see an actual clip. Those of us who Crowe targets would immediately recognize the quote of Bob Dylan's most famous album cover. But instead of quoting it like Greenaway would use a famous painting, we are walked through it with chalk.
Patronizing. Embarrassing. Discouraging. Does he think we all move lips when reading?
But there are two really fascinating things. I believe that Crowe's imagination is based in popular music first, with the image to follow, and actors and story getting dragged in a matter of course. So the effect of the music is more powerful than any I recall. He deftly binds it, even having Cruise take up a song at one point. This is the deepest use of Dylan in a long time. For those of us that are Crowe's age, there is a cool take on the Beatles: in the late sixties, the game was that drugs could help you create your own reality. The Beatles provided three alternative worlds for you to choose. It really was a matter of pervasive discussion about choosing (or 'liking') John, Paul or George.
Once the topic comes up in the film, everything from there can be seen as making a choice. John would have stayed in fantasyland. George would have declared the whole thing irrelevant and opted out. Paul would have gone back to the 'real' world. The film ends with Paul's song. Now that's the kind of near-subtlety that's missing in the story at large.
The other thing is no small matter. It purely blew me away, using a cinematic effect I have never experienced before. The whole film is storytelling by reference; what is new is storytelling by direct reference to characters previously played by the cast!
Start with Alicia Witt and work outwards from the center. (Alicia was the receptionist at LE, named Libby who is the first person involved in the dream mechanics.) She played an identical, small center as the whorehouse pianist in 'Liebestraum' (get the name?), also as the fulcrum of folded visions.
Diaz played the shunned girlfriend in the last popular film dealing with constructed realities, 'Malkovich.' Russell plays Douglas playing the character who recreates the narrative. It is the complement of his role in 'Wonder Boys,' where he was the creator, but real; and a complement of a different sort of him in 'The Game,' where he was the target, not the creator. His work here and in 'Boys' are knowingly referential to his other roles. Very tight selfreferential acting. Kudos to him, it makes up for a whole previous life of selfindulgent frippery. (Made right by his finding his own film Latin love.)
And then there is Cruise himself. 'Eyes Wide Shut' is this very same movie (so Kubrick even said in reference to the Spanish original), but with no quarter given to the less astute viewer. How cool that he would come to this very much dumber version while his exwife went to something more elaborately and cinematic ally selfreferential in 'Moulin Rouge,' (a real thrill that should be seen right after either 'Eyes' or 'Little Voice').
And finally we have Cruz, whose reference is to an external movie of a different type: this same film. Except the original is more a film where this is a composite of films. She plays her role not in this film, but here in reference to there as if she herself was Jeanne Moreau. And if there ever was a case of films constructing reality, how sweet to have Tom and Penny fall in 'love.'