Most remakes tend to be...crap, for the most part. There are times though of course where I am delighted to find that another filmmaker has improved on an already great idea. That's what brings me to the movie I just finished watching which is the original that "Vanilla Sky" was a remake of.
A young rich man (Cesar) throws a party for himself since its his birthday, he is being harassed by a very beautiful, but maybe a little obsessed girl (Nuria) that he had a one night stand with. He tries to escape from her by using Sofia whom his best friend Pelayo brought to the party as his date by pretending to be with her. Cesar ends up spending the night with Sophia, and its obvious that they both really like one another even though they keep it pretty innocent. When Cesar goes to leave the next morning Nuria is waiting for him, he is coaxed into her car, and she purposely drives head first into a brick wall killing herself and disfiguring Cesar's face.
This is the point in the story that things start getting more surreal. Whats real, and whats a dream become very confused and played with. The themes are simple, Reality is bended, and what is real happiness? The acting is great, and Penelope Cruz who plays Sophia reprises her role in "Vanilla Sky" Its certainly visually stunning, but I think that "Vanilla Sky" took it to a whole new level. I think this version spends to much time talking about reality and less time showing the lines blurring.
One thing I loved about both versions is that no matter what anyone says about the end I consider is pretty open to what you think. The last voice you hear is that of Sophia, if you haven't seen either of these then that means nothing to you, but if you have then its a very strong argument for a certain interpretation of the ending. If its the ending that they push the hardest in the film then it saddens me so much. To me this sort of ending is so much harder to watch than a lot of other movies that are supposed to be sad. But I wont say any more about that for people who aren't familiar with the films.
Cameron Crowe I think did a great job remaking this, and I do like his version better, but there is no doubt that this movie isn't incredible. It spawned a lot of other movies like it, obviously "Vanilla Sky" but also movies like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" This movie I think is a hard sell but they certainly hit a home run with it. I recommend it to anyone, this version might not be great for kids though. There is nudity (not a problem for kids, I think) but the make-up they use in it is very upsetting to even an adult, so I think a kid might be a little frightened by it.
The more I sit here and think about it the more I think there might have been things I haven't considered about the story that add even more to it, there are several layers to say the least, but easy to follow. Dense but not overbearing. A really great movie, beautiful and sad. 8/10 stars.
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martinez, Najwa Nimri
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