Vanilla Eyes

I guess we saw Vanilla Sky before I started this blog,  because there's no post. It might have been the first not-horrible Tom Cruise movie I had seen. We just saw the original movie, Open Your Eyes (Abre los Ojos, 1997) and it helps explain why.

Basically, Vanilla Sky is a remake of a Spanish film called Abre los Ojos. It stars Eduardo Noriega as a shallow rich handsome man who never sleeps with the same woman twice. After meeting Penelope Cruz, he thinks he might have found someone to settle down with. When he is horribly disfigured, everything changes. Without his good looks he is nothing. Then things start to get strange.

 I've read the Cruise optioned the remake of this movie before he finished watching the credits. It's easy to see why:

• Playing handsome shallow assholes is pretty much Cruise's sweet spot.
• Head games about the nature of reality work with his Scientologist philosophy

 Now, I wouldn't say that everything good about Vanilla Sky comes from Abre los Ojos, but the plot and most of the scenes do. The love interest is even played by Penelope Cruz in the remake. Skies does have a few interesting scenes like Cruise and Cruz (huh, never noticed that) walking in the snow like Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo on the cover of Freewheelin'. But I think the earlier film gets at the heart of the story better.

In conclusion, if you have seen either, and didn't hate it, try the other. If you haven't, watch Ojos first.