Vanilla Sky (2001)

★★★★
Vanilla Sky is magnificent. It is absolutely astonishing. From beginning to end, I couldn't take my eyes off it. 2001 was a strong year with some brilliant movies, which was a relief because 2000 was weak by comparison. I don't know what happened there. I loved Beautiful People and The Virgin Suicides, but few others stood out. Gladiator was good, but not that good. When 2001 came around, it was like a return to form, and all was well. Vanilla Sky premiered in December, and I never once considered that its proximity to the end of the year influenced my decision to place it at the top of my year-end list. If it had come out in January, it would have still been the best movie of the year. That's how strong it is. It has a story that's beautifully told, features wonderful cinematography and contains memorable performances and a great soundtrack that sets the mood appropriately. There isn't a flawed moment, and writer/director Cameron Crowe deserves high praise for delivering to us this ingenious creation. It is significantly better than his over-hyped Almost Famous.

Vanilla Sky is a remake of the Spanish film Open Your Eyes. The story resonated with Tom Cruise, and he wanted to make an updated version, so he brought it to the attention of his friend Cameron Crowe. They previously worked together on Jerry Maguire, and Crowe liked the movie too, so he agreed to direct. Even if you've seen that earlier film, you won't be prepared for what you will see here. It is essentially the same story, though there is much more meat and more emotion in Crowe's version, and the ending makes a stronger impact. David Aames (Tom Cruise) is a successful businessman who can turn heads whenever he walks into a room. He's handsome, has money and lives in a huge apartment in New York City. As the story opens, there is a breathtaking scene in which he runs through Times Square alone. Surrounded by buildings and flashy billboards, David feels like he's being crushed by the loneliness. It turns out to be a dream, but the movie has already established its tone, and it is this tone that carries all the way to the end. The movie gives us the constant feeling of disorientation, where everything is not as it seems.

David is the majority owner (51%) of a publishing company, but he's in a constant battle with the Seven Dwarves—the seven board members who own the other 49% and would love nothing more than to take over the whole company. He inherited the business from his father, and he lives a comfortable life with a big apartment and fancy car. His girlfriend is Julie (Cameron Diaz), though she's more committed to the relationship than he is. He throws a party one night where his friend Brian (Jason Lee) introduces him to Sofia (Penélope Cruz), an artist and dancer with a pleasant personality. David immediately takes a liking to her and overlooks the fact that she was Brian's date. They spend an evening together, which upsets Julie enough that she commits an atrocious act that is both sudden and shocking. There is also a secondary plot running concurrently with the main narrative that shows a disfigured David incarcerated for murder. His counselor Dr. McCabe (Kurt Russell) conducts their sessions, and his job is to hear David's story and formulate a professional opinion for the court. David discusses his dreams and his inability to keep track of what's happening. As the main story continues, David's dreams become more erratic and completely alter his perception of his surroundings.

As we navigate these troubled waters, our own perception is affected, so that we're experiencing these strange occurrences right along with David. Random characters behave strangely. David and Brian's conversations turn combative. Sofia and Julie appear when they shouldn't. The movie wants us to trace the origins of these problems back to David's violent encounter with Julie, which resulted in his damaged face and forced him to wear a mask, but did his problems start there? These events happen during David's courtship with Sofia, which seems to be progressing nicely aside from all the distractions, at least until even she is compromised by his inability to see the truth. Cameron Crowe throws plenty of misdirection at us, yet his story is solid and holds together despite David's fragile mind. What started out as a love story and murder mystery turns into something unexpected. It's a psychological drama with an unreliable narrator. The continuity becomes disjointed. David relays these events to Dr. McCabe, who listens with interest. The jail scenes show him at his most calm. Freed from the confusion of the outside world, David finds solace in confinement.

How this movie marches towards its emotional finale is thrilling, but not in a way akin to action or adventure. Vanilla Sky is a thrill because it is a shining example of the heights to which a movie's greatness can rise when all the pieces fall together in the right way. It is a pleasure to come across a movie like this, because such sightings are rare. Crowe not only tells a simple story of David's journey, but he also takes the opportunity to explore how pop culture can become ingrained in our psyche. It can influence in subtle ways, both good and bad. Here, David saw in pop culture what was missing from his own life, whether it's a movie featuring a positive father figure or artwork that inspired feelings within him that were hard to duplicate elsewhere. I get that. While Vanilla Sky has no characters with whom I can identify (and I never make that a requirement when I watch a movie), it does understand the impression that movies, music and artwork can have on us at a particular moment in time. I saw American Pie during the summer of 1999, a time when I really needed the boost that it gave me. Clerks (1994) made me think, "I want to do that too." I went to film school, but I found that bouncing from one gig to another and the uncertainty of a reliable paycheck wasn't for me. Kudos to those who find their way.

The movie's revelation is familiar to anyone who has seen Open Your Eyes, but the journey to get to that point is breathtaking in Crowe's version. He makes the male lead's journey more than about living an ideal life with his one true love. Crowe wonders how we might try to pretty the edges of the frame of our own lives. What little touches would we make to improve the scenery, however small? When Bob Ross decides on a whim to add a happy little tree to his painting, he's taking this snapshot as he envisioned it and adds something to make it better. Bob Ross had his paint, but what about David? He takes the pop culture elements that filled the holes in his life and customizes his pallet in order to paint the world to his liking. His budding romance with Sofia is the result of his charm and his imagination. He initiates the relationship in the real world, but he is ill-equipped to face life's obstacles outside of the boardroom. When given the opportunity to alter his path, he takes it, and his relationship becomes more manageable. Even then, errant blotches can dot the canvas. Even with full control of the brush, the artist is still subject to human error. David's world unravels. He finds himself accused of murder, and here we are along for the ride as his situation unravels.

Vanilla Sky understands the individual's desire to create an idyllic existence. We pursue the things we want, just as David Aames does. We formulate plans to achieve our goals and map out the milestones along that path, but then things inevitably go awry, which can result in minor inconveniences or catastrophic setbacks. For David, everything was supposed to go as planned, so how did it come to this, sitting in jail and being probed by his counselor? A mysterious stranger visits David and tells him to take control. Rather than rest on his laurels, David should stay focused and be ready to face disruptions that could take everything away from him. Tapping into his background as a writer for Rolling Stone, Crowe infused the film with music, paintings, video clips, photographs and animation. We see forms of media every day, and we absorb their content either intentionally or subliminally. When I hear Natalie Imbruglia's cover of "Torn," I think about my college days. Crowe understands how art and media can act as bookmarks. They can trigger memories of happiness in the distant past. With his wealth, David has the means to incorporate those images and sounds into his new life.

Vanilla Sky came out late in the year, well after Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which I had originally pegged at #1 for 2001 until Waking Life's debut in October, and then that dropped down one spot by the end of the year. These three movies have one thing in common: Their lead characters go on journeys that take them far beyond what they thought possible, leaving behind everything they knew. What pushed Vanilla Sky to the top for me was the timing of its revelation and the emotional impact of its finale. This is not only the best film of 2001, but it's one of the best I've ever seen.

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