Vanilla Sky

I've discussed Vanilla Sky with a couple other people, and decided that the opinions of others might be interesting.

Beware of spoilers.

For those who have seen the movie, do you think this is a story about a vain playboy getting what he deserved and redeeming himself, or about the rich pretty boy who gets everything he wants?

I feel that Vanilla Sky is ultimately about the main character's journey of self discovery, him learning how to accept change (by abandoning his perfect love in his Lucid Dream), and overcoming fears (jumping off a building to exit his dream while he is afraid of heights).

However, it's been pointed out to me that he only abandoned his dream when he finds out that his mutilated face can be repaired, which would lead me to believe that if he had to remain appearing ugly, he wouldn't have wanted to wake up. This is a major strike against my opinion of the film.


Also, on a lighter level, does Vanilla Sky pander to audiences by having (as cbjedi called it) a James Bond Villain scene where all the mysteries of the film are laid out before the viewer and not leaving much up to interpretation?

I, personally, feel that this scene does take some of the fun out of Vanilla Sky, but it isn't a major issue in the movie.


What does everyone else think about these issues?

 

I think he was a decent person who got in an accident and chose the lucid dream option. I don't think he deserved to be run over a cliff. Plus he was on the verge of true love just before eating it, being rich makes not one bad.

Vanilla Sky is a remake of a foreign movie that starred Penelope Cruz as i believe the same character.

 

What if that procedure had never been discovered, would David willingly return from the dream (lets say without the nightmare)? I say that he would not simply because that was his nature. He attempted to get out with the mask, but could not overcome the rejection of the woman he liked (which I took it as a representation of how we would accept/reject David if he saw him). His looks made his life.

What if that procedure had never been invented, would David willingly return from the nightmare he developed? It looked to me like he was more than willing to just die in his nightmare than live life with that mask.

David was given the easiest of potential choices, live in the nightmare or wake up and have your looks repaired. I felt the hardest evaluation David had to make was trusting that guy that revealed everything to him in the end. In fact, this choice was not really that hard for him. If he was living in the real world and jumped off of the building and died, he probably would prefer to do that than living with the disfigurement.

These were my thoughts after I saw the movie back in December. I will be curious to see if I might interpret something differently when I see it again.

 

but if he was so vain wouldn't he have had the lucid dream start before the accident?

he CHOSE to have it start on the morning after the night at the club

plus if you listen after the tech support guy says he can be fixed he says that his money won't last him long...meaning that he'd have t earn a living which takes away from the spoiled little rich boy idea

 

Yeah, I just saw this movie like three nights ago (ironically, after spending the evening around soemone very similar to David).

First off, it is in Greek tradgedy form, since David sealed his own fate. He led that pain in the butt girl (Julie) on, and in the end, drove her over the edge.

Second off, the end had very much the same air as AI- a kind of partway happy ending. Yes, his face can be fixed, and if that is all he ever cared about, then he coudl be happy. But actually, in meeting Sophia, he is introduced to a world beyond his rich-boy fantasies. And that world he's lost forever.
Not to mention, like AI, he is now going to be introduced into an entirely new world, 150 years in the future, after everyone he knows is long dead.

I think it was a brilliant mix of mystery/tradgedy/romance with a twisted ending.

And I am glad they explained everything at the end. I am not the type that likes to spend much brainpower on movies, and I like to have all the mysteries explained so I can turn them over in my head and decide if they were intelligent enough. And in Vanilla Sky, they were *definately* intelligent enough.

 

Vanilla Sky is about stupid decisions.

Cameron Diaz > Penelope Cruz

 

I had a discussion about this movie with a friend a few weeks ago.Did anyone notice that the entire movie was about him having strange dreams? Did it ever occur to anyone that after the accident the rest of the movie could have been a dream he was having wile in his comatose state, none of it being real including the Lucid Dream part.He was supposed to be frozen for over a hundred years if I'm right on that. So that would make all of his friends dead, but wasn't that Penelope Cruz's voice on the end that said "wake up David"?

 

I agree, I thought it was Cruz's voice as well. So, did she have herself frozen until he woke up so they could finally be together?

 

That's what I loved about this movie. There is no way to be sure what happened. There are so many different conclusions you could draw from the ending.

 

Hey...
Maybe after David awoke in the future, he changed his name, got married, and slowly worked his way up through the legal system to become the Commissioner of the Pre-Crime Unit...

Sorry.


I love Vanilla Sky, I really do.

 

"TECH SUPPORT!!! TECH SUPPORT!!!"

LOL, sorry, I just saw it for the first time a few hours ago. It was pretty good, nice twist. And I liked having everything, almost everything explained at the end. I'll have to watch it again soon.

Like someone stated earlier, it was a remake of Alejandro Amenábar's Open Your Eyes. Hmmmm, sounds like a line from Vanilla.

 

I just finished watching this movie 20 minutes ago. I thought it was a little starnge at times, but all in all a great movie. I wonder why it got bad reviews? I think it is about making changes and hard decisions. I don't think the money mattered, because he was falling in love with P. Cruz.

I like the theory of it all being a coma induced dream. I had never thought of that.

 

Having seen both Vanilla Sky and its predecessor, Open Your Eyes, I think I prefer the interp. of the original over the remake as they each say something slightly different about the David/Sophia relationship.

In Vanilla Sky, it was much more that David and Sophia were soulmates. (despite the fact that she more or less dropped him after he became disfigured) And in the end, it left the option open that in the future, maybe David could find her again.

In the original, which I haven't seen in sometime, granted. It was much more left to the idea that Sophia was not David's soulmate in real life. They shared a potentially wonderful night together before the accident but everything past that was all in David's mind. His hope that they could still have a relationship after his accident and that Sophia could "save him" were all just fantasies that he projected onto Sophia and which carried over into his Lucid Dream.

The ending to Open Your Eyes struck me as more poignant b/c David accepts that all his visions of true love were not real and he couldn't MAKE it exists no matter how hard he tried. He accepted reality that some things he can't get w/money and power. And so he jumps into greater maturity and facing the world as it really was and now as how it was sculpted.

While I liked Vanilla Sky (Side Note: NO ONE can come up with such great soundtracks like Cameron Crowe!!) I think the slightly romanticizing of David and Sophia's relationship took away some of the David Character's self-realization and made it more into a typical love and lost story.

 

Good ideas, terrible actors. Tom Cruise? Cameron Diaz? What were they thinking?! At least Penelope Cruz was good.

5/10. Cruise and Diaz sank the movie for me.

 

I give my vote for best actor in this movie to Jason Lee. He's made a career out of playing best friends in various films.

I'll agree that the soundtrack to this movie was awesome. Loved the last track that played as David jumped w/the flashback sequence.

 

That's a beautiful song. It's called "The Nothing Song" by Sigur Rós. Unfortunately, it's not on any albums, so the only recordings of it are bootlegs.
Cameron Crowe actually asked the band if he could use a bootleg, since he really wanted this song in the movie.

 

I was watching the DVD today with the Director's commentary. One thing Cameron Crowe pointed out that helps suggest that the entire movie is just a dream is that in the beginning on David's Mustang, the registration sticker reads 2-30-01. That date doesn't exist, so it's a reason to think that it was all a dream. I just thought that was interesting.

Also, as long as we are on the topic of songs, what is the song playing during David's memorial? I don't think it's on the Soundtrack but I really like that song.

 

That would be "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" by Spiritualized.


Here is the complete list of songs played in the film, in order of appearance:

Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead
From Rusholme With Love - Mint Royale
Vanilla Sky - Paul McCartney
Have You Forgotten - Red House Painters
All The Right Friends - REM
My Robot - Looper
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
Keep On Pushin' - The Impressions
Mondo '77 - Looper
Directions - Josh Rouse
Wrecking Ball - Creeper Lagoon
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
Earthtime Tapestry - Spacecraft
Svefn-G-Englar - Sigur Rós
Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Rós
Indra - Thievery Corporation
Loops Of Fury - The Chemical Brothers
Afrika Shox - Leftfield featuring Afrika Bambaataa
Rez - Underworld
Too Good To Be Strange - Andrea Parker/Two Sandwiches Short Of A Lunchbox
Sweetness Follows - REM
One Of Us - Joan Osborne
Fourth Time Around - Bob Dylan
Wild Honey - U2
I Might Be Wrong - Radiohead
Porpoise Song (theme from 'Head') - The Monkees
Fools Paradise - Willie Nelson
Western Union - The Five Americans
Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
Can We Still Be Friends - Todd Rundgren
Heaven - The Rolling Stones
The Healing Room - Sinead O'Connor
Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Doot Doot - Freur
Summer's End (from 'To Kill A Mockingbird') - Elmer Bernstein
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualized
The Nothing Song - Sigur Rós
Where Do I Begin - The Chemical Brothers

 

Thanks so much Hatter! I really love that song. I think I will go out and buy the soundtrack soon.

I've got a question for anyone who's seen Abre Los Ojos, or knows about it. Is there much difference between Vanilla Sky and Abre Los Ojos?

 

"However, it's been pointed out to me that he only abandoned his dream when he finds out that his mutilated face can be repaired, which would lead me to believe that if he had to remain appearing ugly, he wouldn't have wanted to wake up. This is a major strike against my opinion of the film."

I don't think so. He never asked about that, and didn't seem to really care.

I think the point is the lucid dream was suppose to be his escape, but his feelings of guilt turned it into a hell, and that forced him to face his problems.

He could have stayed there and been at peace with Sofia and been the rich guy on top of the world. But he chose to wake up completely alone and as they said, his funds wouldn't last long at all. He chose to have a normal life, something he never really had.

I liked the ending, explaining it. Not because it explained the film, but because it's where David really faces the mistakes he's made in his life and accepts responsibility.


I've actually seen Abre Los Ojos, the spainish film Sky was based on. I gotta say Vanilla Sky was a lot better in almost every way. But of course the origanal was just that, it made up the whole thing I just think Sky excecuted it better.

 

I killed it....