Vanilla Sky"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" More than just lyrics from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (surprisingly not featured in this film), Vanilla Sky is about image...and with image, imagination. David Aames, Jr. (Tom Cruise) leads a perfect life; he is rich, handsome, charming, possessed of every desirable quality a man could desire. The inheritor of a vast media empire--the silver spoon, his key to the kingdom--David spends his days partying, sleeping late--with his friend, Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz)--and hanging out with his buddy Brian (Jason Lee), whose presence invariably strokes David's ego. Life is good for David; but how good is "good enough"?
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Vanilla Sky opens with what is shortly thereafter revealed to be a dream, one which is replicated with eerie similarities upon David's actual awakening minutes later, both scenes accompanied by a woman's voice saying, "open your eyes". From the start, director/writer Cameron Crowe dissolves the barriers between dream and reality, save for the obvious (and less obvious) clues which pop up at intervals. There are constants: David's world is insulated, and control is his commodity. David's legacy is one of a charismatic--but spoiled--man in a state of arrested development. It is ironic, then, that when Life Extension is introduced later--describing how one can be frozen in a state of cryostasis--it parallels David's own state of being emotionally frozen. David is smart, although his principle education is born primarily out of his ubiquitous exposure to commercial media; he has been surrounded by pop culture all of his life--it is his life. That opening dream shows David as obsessive, plucking a gray hair from his head, as the score coyly chimes in with Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place"; Cameron Crowe is no stranger to scoring his films with choice rock selections. The dream is remarkably shot without computer enhancement in a closed-off Times Square one Sunday morning--more ironic, given the reveal of the film--and is of David in a world unto himself, which his court-appointed psychiatrist, called "McCabe" (Kurt Russell) suggests means that he is "lonely", in as much as he is willing to credit dream interpretation with any validity. "Court-appointed", you say? Vanilla Sky recounts events from David's past as David himself--his face now concealed behind a mask--is imprisoned for a crime which is gradually revealed. The catalyst for David's transformation began with a birthday, when his friend Brian brings to the festivities a young woman who looks out of place, but beams a natural charm: Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz); and just like in the movies, David is mesmerized, regardless if his best friend brought her as his ostensible date. Interestingly, Vanilla Sky is a remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, and Penélope Cruz reprises her role as Sofia. What is it about Sofia that captivated David so? Surely, he has a very convenient arrangement with Julie--albeit she is obsessive for David's affections--but Sofia occupies his thoughts and dreams. He tells McCabe that he is a "pleasure delayer", knowing how to manipulate interactions with women so as to compel them to desire him more; he knows what buttons to push. This also echoes his character of Frank T.J. Mackey from Magnolia, who espouses manipulating women for his own gain. Is David just convincing himself that he feels something exceptional for the woman who seems so removed from his own lifestyle? David should want for nothing, from a material point of view; his life is like a living dream. He does proclaim that he must endure the "board of directors" appointed by his late father, David Aames, Sr.--advisers who he dubs "the seven dwarfs", a metaphor to Snow White, another "chosen idol" like himself, although his unofficial nickname is far less flattering. David surrounds himself with people and objects in an effort to achieve some sense of self-fulfillment, and yet he remains "lonely". Perhaps loneliness is the absence of self...real self-actualization; and how can you know if you are in a dream, when your life is like...a dream?
Just as everyone has another side to themselves, David is forced to confront another self over the course of Vanilla Sky. There is the playboy rockstar whom everyone loves and adores, who is always funny at parties, and always gets the girl. He gets a secret thrill when following a brush with death, Brian exclaims that David's life flashed before his eyes...and it was almost worth dying for. But then, following an accident, there is the dark side of this fortune which emerges: David's vain, self-important, even paranoid side, a separate persona--embodied literally by the man in a mask. He is confronted with his inability to commit, to take ownership for the consequences of his actions, to grow up; as a result, he ends up lashing out, fostering conspiracy theories. David's life has prized style over substance, commercial over original. He desires Sofia because she represents something which for him is elusive and something he does not have, does not own. When Julie confronts David about their relationship, David fearfully replies that he "loves her" to try to prevent her from doing something rash; but David doesn't love her, it is merely his attempt to seize control over a situation quickly fleeing his grasp. There is a scene in Vanilla Sky following his reemergence into the world when David meets Brian and Sofia at a nightclub, and David--just as Brian did at his birthday party--gets drunk to cope with feelings of inadequacy. As he downs shots of tequila with the bartender, he shouts "Patrón" in exaltation. However, when I remember first seeing this scene, I assumed he was saying "control", which is arguably more crucial to David than a brand of liquor. David needed to control his relationship with Julia, so that she could be another accessory in his life. So when David claims to love Sofia--even to himself--is this even true, or just another delusion? Is Sofia just another emotion anchor, something to keep his feet on the ground? David claims to be afraid of heights, but more so, the fear of hitting the ground; the persistent thought about dreams of falling is that you always wake up before you hit the ground. In Vanilla Sky, there is the notable transition--the "splice"--where the ground shifts and things really alter for David. It is as though his life has returned to the halcyon dream he had lived before; but even this, too, disintegrates into a nightmare, as though he were punishing himself subconsciously. What starts out as a manifestation of his commercial fantasy--and even a sexual and social power trip--warps into a terrifying experience for the emotionally unprepared scion of affluence. David's worldview is especially dependent on his perspective; coincidentally, the name of the film comes from the actual Monet painting he keeps in his day office, "Seine at Argenteuil"...impressionistic, like David. Some have said that the "real" moment of transition in David's life might not be as overt as depicted in the film, that his life is so dreamlike, that there really is no way to know for sure. Arguably, these moments of revelation follow him being instructed to open his eyes; what could be more emblematic of an awakening?
Recommended for: Fans of a drama which touches base with varying genres--from romance, to science fiction, to thriller--as David's perspective alters. It is a cautionary story about the dangers of vanity, full of subtle pop culture nods which possess far greater context here than being simple non sequiturs, including--and especially--the music.
Just as everyone has another side to themselves, David is forced to confront another self over the course of Vanilla Sky. There is the playboy rockstar whom everyone loves and adores, who is always funny at parties, and always gets the girl. He gets a secret thrill when following a brush with death, Brian exclaims that David's life flashed before his eyes...and it was almost worth dying for. But then, following an accident, there is the dark side of this fortune which emerges: David's vain, self-important, even paranoid side, a separate persona--embodied literally by the man in a mask. He is confronted with his inability to commit, to take ownership for the consequences of his actions, to grow up; as a result, he ends up lashing out, fostering conspiracy theories. David's life has prized style over substance, commercial over original. He desires Sofia because she represents something which for him is elusive and something he does not have, does not own. When Julie confronts David about their relationship, David fearfully replies that he "loves her" to try to prevent her from doing something rash; but David doesn't love her, it is merely his attempt to seize control over a situation quickly fleeing his grasp. There is a scene in Vanilla Sky following his reemergence into the world when David meets Brian and Sofia at a nightclub, and David--just as Brian did at his birthday party--gets drunk to cope with feelings of inadequacy. As he downs shots of tequila with the bartender, he shouts "Patrón" in exaltation. However, when I remember first seeing this scene, I assumed he was saying "control", which is arguably more crucial to David than a brand of liquor. David needed to control his relationship with Julia, so that she could be another accessory in his life. So when David claims to love Sofia--even to himself--is this even true, or just another delusion? Is Sofia just another emotion anchor, something to keep his feet on the ground? David claims to be afraid of heights, but more so, the fear of hitting the ground; the persistent thought about dreams of falling is that you always wake up before you hit the ground. In Vanilla Sky, there is the notable transition--the "splice"--where the ground shifts and things really alter for David. It is as though his life has returned to the halcyon dream he had lived before; but even this, too, disintegrates into a nightmare, as though he were punishing himself subconsciously. What starts out as a manifestation of his commercial fantasy--and even a sexual and social power trip--warps into a terrifying experience for the emotionally unprepared scion of affluence. David's worldview is especially dependent on his perspective; coincidentally, the name of the film comes from the actual Monet painting he keeps in his day office, "Seine at Argenteuil"...impressionistic, like David. Some have said that the "real" moment of transition in David's life might not be as overt as depicted in the film, that his life is so dreamlike, that there really is no way to know for sure. Arguably, these moments of revelation follow him being instructed to open his eyes; what could be more emblematic of an awakening?
Recommended for: Fans of a drama which touches base with varying genres--from romance, to science fiction, to thriller--as David's perspective alters. It is a cautionary story about the dangers of vanity, full of subtle pop culture nods which possess far greater context here than being simple non sequiturs, including--and especially--the music.