Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American
psychological thriller filmPsychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
directed, co-produced and co-written by
Cameron CroweCameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie
Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes), the screenplay for which was written by
Alejandro AmenábarAlejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos is a Spanish- Chilean film director. Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile to a Spanish mother and Chilean father, but the family moved to Spain just one year after his birth...
and
Mateo GilMateo Gil Rodríguez is a Spanish screenplay writer and director.-Writer:*Agora *Mar adentro *Vanilla Sky...
. The film stars
Tom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
,
Penélope CruzPenélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
(in a repeat of her performance in
Abre los ojos) and
Cameron DiazCameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
, with
Jason LeeJason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
and
Kurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
.
Vanilla Sky has been described as "an odd mixture of science fiction, romance and reality warp", "part Beautiful People fantasy, part
New AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
investigation of the Great Beyond," a "love story and a struggle for the soul," and an "erotic adventure, romance, mystery, and psychological thriller, with a dose of science fiction."
Plot
David Aames (
Tom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
) was the wealthy owner of a large publishing firm in New York City after the death of his father. From a prison cell, David, in a prosthetic mask, tells his story to psychiatrist Dr. Curtis McCabe (
Kurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
): enjoying the bachelor lifestyle, he is introduced to Sofia Serrano (
Penélope CruzPenélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
) by his best friend, Brian Shelby (
Jason LeeJason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
), at a party. David and Sofia spend a night together talking, and fall in love. When David's former girlfriend, Julianna "Julie" Gianni (
Cameron DiazCameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
), hears of Sofia, she attempts to kill herself and David in a car crash. While Julie dies, David remains alive, but his face is horribly disfigured, forcing him to wear a mask to hide the injuries. Unable to come to grips with the mask, he gets overly drunk on a night out at a bar with Sofia, and he is left to wallow in the street.
David is awakened the next day by Sofia, who apologizes for not helping him, and brings him home. The two continue to see each other, and David has his face repaired. Despite the seemingly-perfect life, David finds oddities, such as brief visions of his distorted face, and a man (
Noah TaylorNoah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
) at a bar that tells him he can change the world. One day, when he goes to Sofia's apartment, he finds Julie there instead; all of the previous mementos of Sofia now showing Julie's face. Angry and confused, David suffocates Julie, and is later arrested and placed in a mental institution. The court psychologist Curtis talks about the incident with David over several sessions. During one interview, David sees a nearby TV advertisement for "Life Extension", a company that specializes in cryonic suspension, finding the name familiar. Under Dr. McCabe's guard, David is taken to the Life Extension offices, where the salesclerk explains they freeze people just after the point of death, until a cure for their ailment is available in the future - placing them in a lucid dream state. David becomes anxious and breaks free of Dr. McCabe, realizing he is in his own lucid dream that has gone wrong, and calls for tech support.
David finds himself in the empty lobby of the offices, and the man whom he has seen earlier at the bar appears, claiming to be David's tech support. As they ride up in an elevator to the top of an impossibly-tall building, the man explains that David has been in cryonic sleep for 150 years, after he killed himself with a drug overdose. David learns that when he signed a contract with the cryogenics company preserving him, he opted to start the lucid dream shortly after his drunken night when Sofia left him, under the "vanilla sky" from a
MonetClaude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
painting. However, during his sleep, the dream went horribly wrong and attempted to incorporate elements from his subconscious, such as placing Julie in for Sofia and creating a father-figure like Dr. McCabe. As they arrive at the top of the building, the man offers David a choice - either to be reinserted into the corrected lucid dream, or to wake up by taking a literal
leap of faithA leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence...
off the roof. David decides to wake up, and envisions Sofia and Brian to say his goodbyes. David jumps off the building, his life flashing before his eyes, and blacks out moments before hitting the ground. A female voice commands him to "open your eyes" (a recurring theme in the movie), and the film ends with David opening his eyes.
Cast
- Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
as David Aames
- Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
as Sofia Serrano
- Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as Dr. Curtis McCabe
- Jason Lee
Jason Michael Lee is an American actor and skateboarder known for his role as the title character on the NBC television series My Name is Earl, his portrayal of Syndrome in the film The Incredibles, his role as Dave Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and his work with director Kevin...
as Brian Shelby
- Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
as Julianna "Julie" Gianni
- Noah Taylor
Noah George Taylor is an English-born Australian actor.-Early life:Taylor, elder of two boys, was born in London, England, the son of Maggie, a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. Taylor's Australian parents returned to Australia when he was five, and he grew...
as Edmund Ventura/Tech Support
- Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
as Thomas Tipp
- Tilda Swinton
Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...
as Rebecca Dearborn
- Michael Shannon
Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
as Aaron
- Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
as Art Editor
- Shalom Harlow
Shalom Harlow is a Canadian model and actress.-Life and career:Harlow was born in Oshawa, Ontario, the daughter of Sandi Herbert and David Harlow. Though her mother named her Shalom , meaning "peace" in Hebrew, her family is not Jewish. She was discovered at a Cure concert in Toronto and started...
as Colleen
- Oona Hart
Oona Hart is a model from Evanston, Illinois. She played Lynette in Vanilla Sky and also had appearances in the TV series Sliders and the film Love Jones. She is well-known for her Levi's jeans ad in which she is chased into a tree by a dog.-External links:...
as Lynette
- Ivana Miličević
-Early life:Miličević was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Croatian family, the daughter of Tonka, a homemaker, and Damir Miličević, a slaughterhouse worker and entrepreneur. She emigrated to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Michigan...
as Emma
- Johnny Galecki
John Mark "Johnny" Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and as Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:Galecki was born in Bree, Belgium, of...
as Peter Brown
- Jhaemi Willens as Jamie Berline
- Alicia Witt
Alicia Roanne Witt is an American film, stage, television actress and singer.-Early life:Witt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her mother, Diane , is a junior high school reading teacher, and her father, Robert Witt, is a science teacher and photographer. She has a brother, Ian...
as Libby
- Jennifer Aspen
Jennifer Aspen is an American actress best known for her roles as Daphne Jablonsky in Fox's teen drama Party of Five , as Trina Hamilton in ABC's family comedy Rodney and as Kendra Giardi in the first season of the show Glee.-Personal life:Aspen was born in Richmond, Virginia, and resides in Los...
(uncredited) as Nina
- Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
(uncredited) as Guest at David Aames' Party
Production
The shooting of the scene of the deserted
Times SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
was filmed in Times Square on November 12, 2000, in the hours before 10 am. A large section of blocks around Times Square was closed off while this scene was shot.
The title of this film is a reference to depictions of the skies in some of the paintings of
Claude MonetClaude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
.
Music
Vanilla Sky featured original compositions from
Nancy WilsonNancy Lamoureux Wilson is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer who, with her older sister Ann and lead guitarist Roger Fisher, became the core of the Seattle/Vancouver rock band Heart.-Life and career:...
and one original composition by
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. It also features two
RadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
songs, "
Everything In Its Right Place"Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, written by lead singer Thom Yorke in 1999. It was recorded with producer Nigel Godrich in Batsford later the same year...
" and "
I Might Be WrongI Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings is a 2001 live album by English rock band Radiohead, consisting of live performances of eight songs recorded on a tour of Europe and North America, including seven songs from their albums Kid A and Amnesiac, and one never released on a studio album, "True Love...
", as well as others by
Sigur RósSigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
,
R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
,
Joan OsborneJoan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...
, Looper,
Todd RundgrenTodd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
,
Thievery CorporationThievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C. based recording artist and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza, Eric Hilton, and their supporting artists, including current drummer Jeff Franca...
,
UnderworldUnderworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
,
Jeff BuckleyJeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
, U2,
The MonkeesThe Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
,
The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
,
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
,
The Chemical BrothersThe Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
,
Josh RouseJosh Rouse is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter.-Biography:Born in the small town of Paxton, Nebraska, he moved to various places in the Midwest during his childhood due to his father's military career...
,
Creeper LagoonCreeper Lagoon is a San Francisco indie rock band originally started by Sharky Laguana as a solo project in 1991. They are currently on Sharky's digital record label, Neglektra.- History :...
and
FreurFreur was a band featuring Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, who went on to found the successful electronic act Underworld. It was their second band, following their art school collaboration, The Screen Gemz.-History:...
. The Beatles song "Revolution #9" is briefly sampled. The film features the track "Untitled #4 (a.k.a. 'Njósnavélin')" by
Sigur RósSigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
, but because the track had not been recorded in a studio during production, the version featured in the film is a recording of a live performance at the 2000
Roskilde FestivalRoskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
in
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Crowe thought
Vanilla Sky had musical overtones, and expressed this through the use of music throughout the film.
Music from Vanilla SkyThe soundtrack for Vanilla Sky was nominated for an Academy Award. The film's soundtrack has been subject to critical acclaim from its reviewers, being called "a music masterpiece" by The New York Times. The eclectic taste of the soundtrack has been said to be one of the reasons the movie has...
was released as the film's commercial soundtrack. The soundtrack received acclaim from soundtrack critics, praising the film's musical selection as a compilational masterpiece which perfectly evoked the emotions sought by the cast; the soundtrack is responsible in large part for making
Vanilla Sky a classic.
The song "The Healing Room" by
Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
can also be heard during the video presentation of "Lucid Dream" in Rebecca Dearborn's office, although it is not featured on the soundtrack.
According to
Nancy WilsonNancy Lamoureux Wilson is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer who, with her older sister Ann and lead guitarist Roger Fisher, became the core of the Seattle/Vancouver rock band Heart.-Life and career:...
, on the
audio commentaryOn disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
to the film on CD, the Rolling Stones' "Heaven" is also featured in the film, as he is being transported to L.E.'s offices. This is also not on the soundtrack. Another song appearing at a critical juncture in the soundtrack is "
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in SpaceLadies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is the third studio album by Spiritualized, released in June 1997, and features guest appearances from the Balanescu Quartet, The London Community Gospel Choir and Dr...
" by
Jason PierceJason Pierce , also known as J. Spaceman or Spaceman, is an English musician. He was formerly the joint leader – with Peter Kember – of the alternative rock band Spacemen 3, and is now the leader and sole permanent member of the band Spiritualized.In between his work with Spiritualized...
and performed by
SpiritualizedSpiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...
.
Another song used during the scene of
Tom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
running through
Times SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
is "From Rusholme With Love" by
Mint RoyaleMint Royale is a big beat electronic music act from Manchester, England. They were originally founded by the duo Neil Claxton and Chris Baker in 1997; the latter left the band in 2004, but Claxton continues to produce music using the Mint Royale name.-Career:...
, also not included on the soundtrack.
Interpretations
According to Cameron Crowe's commentary, there are five different interpretations of the ending:
- "Tech support" is telling the truth: 150 years have passed since David Aames killed himself, and everything after his passing out on the sidewalk was a lucid dream.
- The entire film is a dream, as evidenced by the sticker on David's car that reads '2/30/01' (February 30 doesn't occur in the Gregorian calendar).
- The entire film after the crash is a dream that takes place while David is in a coma.
- The entire film is the plot of the book that Brian is writing.
- The entire film after the crash is a hallucination because of the drugs that were used on David during his reconstructive surgery.
Crowe has noted that the presence of "
vanillaVanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
skies" identifies the first lucid dream scene (morning reunion after club scene). All that follows is a dream.
Critical response
Initial critical reaction was highly mixed. It holds a rating of 40 on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 162 reviews (65 positive, 97 negative).
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported, based on 33 reviews, a "Mixed" rating of 45 out of 100.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
's printed review of
Vanilla Sky gave it a quite positive three out of four stars:
- Think it all the way through, and Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky is a scrupulously moral picture. It tells the story of a man who has just about everything, thinks he can have it all, is given a means to have whatever he wants, and loses it because — well, maybe because he has a conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
. Or maybe not. Maybe just because life sucks. Or maybe he only thinks it does. This is the kind of movie you don't want to analyze until you've seen it two times.
Ebert said that the ending "explains the mechanism of our confusion, rather than telling us for sure what actually happened." The film critic Richard Roeper greatly enjoyed this film, calling it the second best film of 2001.
A more mixed review from
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
early on calls
Vanilla Sky a "highly entertaining, erotic science-fiction thriller that takes Mr. Crowe into
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
territory", but then it notes:
- As it leaves behind the real world and begins exploring life as a waking dream (this year's most popular theme in Hollywood movies with lofty ideas), Vanilla Sky loosens its emotional grip and becomes a disorganized and abstract if still-intriguing meditation on parallel themes. One is the quest for eternal life and eternal youth; another is guilt and the ungovernable power of the unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
to undermine science's utopiaUtopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n discoveries. David's redemption ultimately consists of his coming to grips with his own mortality, but that redemption lacks conviction.
A negative review was published by
Salon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, which called
Vanilla Sky an "aggressively plotted puzzle picture, which clutches many allegedly deep themes to its heaving bosom without uncovering even an onion-skin layer of insight into any of them."
The review
rhetorically asksA rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply. Rhetorical questions encourage the listener to think about what the answer to the question must be. When a speaker states, "How much longer must our people...
:
- Who would have thought that Cameron Crowe had a movie as bad as Vanilla Sky in him? It's a punishing picture, a betrayal of everything that Crowe has proved he knows how to do right....But the disheartening truth is that we can see Crowe taking all the right steps, the most Crowe-like steps, as he mounts a spectacle that overshoots boldness and ambition and idiosyncrasy and heads right for arrogance and pretension — and those last two are traits I never would have thought we'd have to ascribe to Crowe.
Peter BradshawPeter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
of
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Gareth Von Kallenbach of the publication
Film ThreatFilm Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
compared
Vanilla Sky unfavorably to
Open Your Eyes. Bradshaw says
Open Your Eyes is "certainly more distinctive than"
Vanilla Sky, which he describes as an "extraordinarily narcissistic high-concept vanity project for producer-star Tom Cruise." Other reviewers extrapolate from the knowledge that Cruise had bought the rights to do a version of Amenábar's film. A
Village Voice reviewer characterized
Vanilla Sky as "hauntingly frank about being a manifestation of its star's cosmic
narcissismNarcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
".
Cameron DiazCameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
's performance, however, was critically acclaimed, with the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
film critic calling her "compelling as the embodiment of crazed sensuality" and
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reviewer saying she gives a "ferociously emotional" performance, earning Diaz a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, a Critics' Choice Awards nomination, and an
AFI AwardsThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
nomination.
Penelope CruzPenélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...
's performance, however, earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress (in addition to her roles in
BlowBlow is a 2001 biopic about the American cocaine smuggler George Jung, directed by Ted Demme. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay. It is based on the real...
and
Captain Corelli's MandolinCaptain Corelli's Mandolin is a 2001 film directed by John Madden and based on the novel of the same name by Louis de Bernières. It stars Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz.-Plot:...
).
In 2010,
Vanilla Sky was voted as the most confusing movie of all time in a poll conducted by LoveFilm.com.
The British television host
Jeremy ClarksonJeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
stated during an interview with
Timothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
on
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
motoring series
Top Gear that
Vanilla Sky is one of his favorite films.
In 2004, American
metalcoreMetalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
band
Bury Your DeadBury Your Dead is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, formed in 2001. To date they have had eight releases; one EP: Bury Your Dead, one live DVD: Alive, and six studio albums: You Had Me at Hello, Cover Your Tracks, Beauty and the Breakdown, Bury Your Dead, It's...
adopted the title of the film for one of the songs on their album
Cover Your TracksCover Your Tracks is the second full-length album from the hardcore band Bury Your Dead. It was released in 2004 on Victory Records and features re-recordings of two songs from Bury Your Dead's first full-length You Had Me at Hello. All songs are named after Tom Cruise movies.-Track listing:*Music...
. All songs on the album are named after Tom Cruise movies.
Box office
Vanilla Sky opened at #1 at the box office in the United States when it was first presented on December 14, 2001. The opening weekend took in a gross income of $25,015,518 (24.9%). The final domestic gross income was $100.61 million while the foreign gross income was slightly higher at $102.76m for a worldwide gross income of $203,388,341.
See also
- Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
- Lucid dream
- Simulated reality
Simulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
- Open Your Eyes (Abre los Ojos)
- Ubik
Ubik is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Critic Lev Grossman described it as "a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from."-Plot synopsis:...
External links