Watched Vanilla Sky the other night.
Just seems so very appropriate to watch a film about life turning out to be a nightmare?
This movie was grilled so hard at the time. I quite enjoyed it. I think the way Tom Cruise was utilized on this, especially in an era of his life where he was approaching his peak insanity, works incredibly well. Kurt Russell is great on it too. Cameron diaz and Penelope Cruz too. The whole cast works particularly well.
It's interesting how Cameron Crowe, aka the Rolling Stone guy who directed Almost Famous, used music in this film in a way that feels extremely dated to a very particular period in early 2000s. In that way, it makes the film seem like much more of a heavy pop product now, even though at the time it was made those songs weren't so overplayed yet. But it's kinda cool because it adds a dissociative, out of contex layer.
I just love surreal nightmarish films with psychedelic ideas and they were going for it in a big, lovely way. Bizarre displacements, jarring little things, a lot of work going into small details. I read a quote of Cameron Crowe saying, "as deep as you wanted to look into the movie, I wanted it to be able to meet you there", and I really love that. Definitely need to watch this a few more times.
I think it's incredible to think that Tom Cruise has done Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, and Vanilla Sky all in the span of 2 years only. Between those three films, I think we get to see the real him. Which is, kinda, no one.
|