There once was a movie called Vanilla Sky. It made very little sense. It really was a thoroughly confusing mess. That movie was an English-language remake of this Spanish-language one. If nothing else Open Your Eyes at least makes more sense than Vanilla Sky did. Oh, there's still plenty of confusing stuff here but director Alejandro Amenábar manages to pull it together much better than Cameron Crowe ever did in the remake. The fact that I think the story makes much more sense when presented in a language I don't even understand is about as damning a statement as can be made about Crowe's film. Open Your Eyes is clearly the better film of the two. But it comes with its own frustrations. Maybe this story was just a little too convoluted to ever make a thoroughly enjoyable movie out of.
Open Your Eyes is a movie which delights in messing with your mind. This is a movie which demands that you be fully engaged when watching it. Turn off your brain and start daydreaming and you'll be lost. The movie's main character, César, has plenty of disorienting experiences which can leave the viewer feeling more than a little disoriented himself. It's a hard movie to pin down. It flashes back and forth in time, it raises questions about what is real and what is imagined. It takes you right inside César's head. Unfortunately César's darned near lost his mind so going inside his head isn't going to give us much clarity.
It's best to not say much about the plot because whatever joy you get from this movie will likely come from your attempts to unravel the plot for yourself. If you've already seen Vanilla Sky you unfortunately pretty much know everything. The ending of Vanilla Sky was such a letdown, and made so little sense whatsoever, that as you watch Open Your Eyes you can't help but have very low expectations. You're waiting to be let down and to be thoroughly baffled. Happily Amenábar's ending is a little more focused than Crowe's was. Where Vanilla Sky went completely off the rails Open Your Eyes takes some strange twists and turns but you can follow along if you try. The movie asks you for some serious suspension of disbelief but at least it doesn't throw so much stuff at you that it becomes utter nonsense like Vanilla Sky did. Give some credit to Eduardo Noriega whose performance in the lead role of César is much stronger than Tom Cruise's corresponding star turn in the remake. And this movie's Penélope Cruz also comes across much better than that movie's Penélope Cruz. Strange how the same actress playing the same role can be so much better in one movie than in the other. Maybe it's her comfort level with the language, maybe it's just that she's surrounded by a better movie than she was in Vanilla Sky. Open Your Eyes is not a great movie, a little too convoluted for its own good. Somewhat slow, not always as dramatic and engaging as you would hope. But all in all the movie does have an intriguing story which, if you can wrap your head around it, makes the movie worth seeing. For whatever flaws the movie may have you can understand what Crowe saw in it. Too bad he made such a mess of it when he got his hands on it.
Open Your Eyes is a movie which delights in messing with your mind. This is a movie which demands that you be fully engaged when watching it. Turn off your brain and start daydreaming and you'll be lost. The movie's main character, César, has plenty of disorienting experiences which can leave the viewer feeling more than a little disoriented himself. It's a hard movie to pin down. It flashes back and forth in time, it raises questions about what is real and what is imagined. It takes you right inside César's head. Unfortunately César's darned near lost his mind so going inside his head isn't going to give us much clarity.
It's best to not say much about the plot because whatever joy you get from this movie will likely come from your attempts to unravel the plot for yourself. If you've already seen Vanilla Sky you unfortunately pretty much know everything. The ending of Vanilla Sky was such a letdown, and made so little sense whatsoever, that as you watch Open Your Eyes you can't help but have very low expectations. You're waiting to be let down and to be thoroughly baffled. Happily Amenábar's ending is a little more focused than Crowe's was. Where Vanilla Sky went completely off the rails Open Your Eyes takes some strange twists and turns but you can follow along if you try. The movie asks you for some serious suspension of disbelief but at least it doesn't throw so much stuff at you that it becomes utter nonsense like Vanilla Sky did. Give some credit to Eduardo Noriega whose performance in the lead role of César is much stronger than Tom Cruise's corresponding star turn in the remake. And this movie's Penélope Cruz also comes across much better than that movie's Penélope Cruz. Strange how the same actress playing the same role can be so much better in one movie than in the other. Maybe it's her comfort level with the language, maybe it's just that she's surrounded by a better movie than she was in Vanilla Sky. Open Your Eyes is not a great movie, a little too convoluted for its own good. Somewhat slow, not always as dramatic and engaging as you would hope. But all in all the movie does have an intriguing story which, if you can wrap your head around it, makes the movie worth seeing. For whatever flaws the movie may have you can understand what Crowe saw in it. Too bad he made such a mess of it when he got his hands on it.