Movie Review – Vanilla Sky

Nightmares of dreams

Wonder why this film is not as famous as a Mulholland Drive or any of those sick mind-fuck movies out there. Having a top star in these type of mind fucks is an added advantage because that is the last thing you expect out of it. Even though ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ is one of the movies of Tom Cruise, which was in a different world, it was not impressive when compared to other Stanley Kubrick products. However, if the Kubrick tag is taken out of it, it is still a great film by leaps and bounds. Throughout the film, I found some daring similarity between the two.

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The thing, which differentiates ‘Vanilla Sky’ from other film, is how it cleverly deceives the viewers through its storytelling technique. What starts as a jolly good film ends up in tatters at a later stage. The first twenty minutes or so is a pure Tom Cruise bliss. He is jovial, he is funny, he is everything that a man would dream of to be, and a woman would dream of. Then there is a sudden start. An accident happens all of a sudden and there is a sudden shift in the mood of the film. It again comes back to normalcy but it is not straightforward like before. The film wavers between both the worlds and only during climax, we get to know the reality.

It is not just David Aames (Tom Cruise) who is charming but Brian Shelby (Jason Lee) too. In fact, if there is one person who’d get my sympathy, it’d be him. Poor fellow, he is an artist and struggles to get girls but David gets them so easily without breaking a sweat. That includes the girls Brian likes and dates. Even though David fails the bro code, Brian does not. That is why he is a wonderful character. Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz) is a lovable character. May be a woman of dreams, maybe, that is why David constructed her in such way in his dreams. She is hot, funny and adorable. On the other hand, Julianna “Julie” Gianni (Cameron Diaz) is such a bitch. Not really a fan of her as such, so when she appears like a bitchy character, it fitted her to tee. Especially the scene leading up to the accident was amazing.

David’s love for movies is evident from the various posters, which adores his screen, and building each character in his dream through the inspiration drawn from these films is a great idea. I found Dr. Curtis McCabe’s (Kurt Russell) character to be similar to that of Dr. Sean Maguire from ‘Good Will Hunting’, even though it is not inspired from ‘Good Will Hunting’. Acting wise too, he was prolific. During the confrontation, the way he looks so confidently at David as if the mask is not a concern at all was terrific. Wonder how the whole thought process would have gone into making this character because it is actually his fragment of imagination. Even though he is said to be a character who cares for David, he first comes out as a person who cruelly investigates him and only then shows concern. That is how we want people ideally, right. It is like us writing screenplay for people around us.

The high point or the main factor of making any of these mind fuck movies is to see how unsettling and dark it can be made without spookiness and jump cuts. It is about creating an environment as if we are drugged. The film achieves it by the opening scene and carefully emancipates itself every now and then. There were times when I was truly engrossed in the film and come out of it with a start. Experiences like these are why we watch movies for, which lures us into the films completely.

Movie Review – Predestination

Twist of Tales

The problem with these kinds of movies is that it relies only on twists and nothing else. But this movie had a great way of fooling us. There were a couple of uncorrelated scenes at the beginning of the movie, then it was pretty much straight forward for about some forty minutes where a guy who was lady before, narrates his/her story. The sequence of events was interesting enough to hold the curiosity of viewers. In fact, when I was watching I felt like I was getting more and more absorbed with every passing scene.

Post that is when the sci-fi angle starts. It was an interesting move by keeping us absorbed with the story and then going to the sci-fi angle so that we don’t neglect it citing that it’s just another sci-fi movie with twists and turns. So now we concentrate on every single twist. The first of which is the man whom Jane (Sarah Snook) meets. It was a startling revelation to start with, when we get to know that the man is none other than John (Sarah Snook). The second twist is when Agent Doe (Ethan Hawke) kidnaps Jane’s child. Third twist is when he takes her to the orphanage, what we saw as the starting of flashback. So, the kid who becomes a lady and then transforms to man and her father and her child are all same. Now you see, that’s how fucked up the story was. To analyze and see whether it’s possible is impossible but to enjoy the tension was palpable.

If that is one angle, another angle is that of the Bartender (Ethan Hawke). That’s where it gets little more fucked up. For some reason he has sympathy on Jane, helps her with her case and then jumps back and forth, sees a girl at typewriter and kills the fizzle bomber. I guess that would be of no use because he’d end up being the same person after sometime. Best thing would be to kill himself but he doesn’t do that and when he gets up, he sees the same mark like that of John.

Even though these are the two main characters of the film, Richardson makes an unfathomable presence with his deep look. His makeup is impeccable and works really well for the mystery. He looks to be the only guy who seemed to be in perfect command of what is happening around him.

Coming back to the Bartenders story, may be the marks in his body is a mark of saying that everyone who’s recruited by Space Corp are the ones with same physical conditions. I’m not sure. But the bigger problem is why did he have the mark too. What is his story. I read in Wikipedia and got the answer but will leave it there.

My wife’s theory is that he could be the same girl he meets when he uses the typewriter. I felt that to be logical as they have similar interest, they both utter a similar dialogue just like John and Jane.

Ok and the final question, how come she’s named as Jane by the lady at the orphanage. Any theories for that too?