Jul. 06, 2002 - 12:07 pm
a.k.a. Open Your Eyes. i've been wanting to see this just out of curiosity ever since i heard that Vanilla Sky (2001) was based on it. also, one of my professors last semester apparently detested Vanilla Sky because he thought it was a crummy remake of this film that he loved. in my opinion i think he was doing that thing that we've all done where we decide that we're automatically going to hate it when something that we love is "remade" or revamped or whatever. i tried not to do that while watching this film. i'm a huge fan of Vanilla Sky and i decided i wasn't going to make the same mistake that he made and hate this film just because i loved the other one. in any case, i don't think it's usually possible to like the other one as much as which ever one you saw first. i hope that made sense. if not, oh well.
i mean, these two films are pretty much the same. the big difference i saw (other than this one being in Spanish) was that it takes a much more horrific approach to the whole story. lots of scary music (written by the writer/director, Alejandro Amenabar, himself) which was reminiscent of the music from the Resident Evil series of horror-filled video games.
i refuse to do a plot summary of this film because it ruins a beautiful thing in my opinion. the whole thing needs to stay a mystery. the only thing i knew about Vanilla Sky before i went to see it at the theater last year was that it was some sort of love story between Tom Cruise's character and Penelope Cruz's. that's not exactly a correct impression, but it helped me to have a good reaction to the film. a violent one, but an excellent one all the same.
i don't think i'd say that this film is quite as good as Vanilla Sky, but remember that even i admit to the bias. the makeup and special effects are not quite as good. the cinematography is just a tad better. the acting is just a little bit worse. i didn't like the lead guy, Eduardo Noriega, as much as Tom Cruise. and the guy that played Pelayo was no where near as good as Jason Lee playing Brian.
so i guess my suggestion is go for Vanilla Sky and only watch Abre los ojos if you can't stand not seeing both to compare. like me.
did i mention i had 9 movies checked out from various places for the weekend when i left the library this evening? no way i'm getting to all of those. well not by Sunday anyway. 'cause tomorrow is hiking day.