rating:
(out of
4 stars)Spain, France Italy; 1997
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar; produced by Fernando Bovaira, José Luis Cuerda; written by Alejandro Amenábar, Matteo Gil
Starring Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martínez, Najwa Nimri, Gérard Barray
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Vanilla Sky' was a good film, but it was remake from this film, 'Abre los
Ojos'. This film is a little better although the best single scene is still
in 'Vanilla Sky'. In that movie we see Tom Cruise running down Times Square,
totally deserted, perfectly quiet. Here we have to do it with a street in
Madrid.
I saw 'Vanilla Sky' before I saw this movie and therefor the surprise in the
end was gone but with knowledge of 'Abre los Ojos' being the original I
enjoyed it more. The movies are almost exactly the same but here we don't
have the distraction of actors like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Not that
they are bad but you are constantly aware of watching an actor. Penélope
Cruz is in both movies and in both movies she plays Sofia. The Tom Cruise
part here is played by Eduardo Noriega, his name is César.
He meets Sofia on a party, brings her home and they have a single kiss. He
leaves and is picked up by Nuria (Najwa Nimri, the Cameron Diaz part in
'Vanilla Sky'), a very jealous girl he has slept with. He gets in her car,
she gets mad and drives the car off the road. She dies and he ends up with a
face that you can't recognize anymore.
In flash forwards we also see César talking with a psychiatrist in a guarded
mental hospital. César is wearing a mask because he thinks his face is still
messed up. The psychiatrist tells him that his face looks normal, he asks
him if he remembered anything and he tells him that he is in there because
he murdered a girl.
May be it sounds a little hard to understand and to tell you the truth it is
a little hard to understand. More strange things I will not reveal happen.
In the end it all comes clear, and if you pay a little attention you will
understand it. I liked it very much and there are some nice touches in the
movie. Try to see it before 'Vanilla Sky'.