‘Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around...’
Cameron Crowe’s generational run as a filmmaker from writing Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982 to winning an Oscar for Almost Famous 18 years later is almost a match for Rob Reiner’s unbelievable streak from 1984 to 1992 (This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery and A Few Good Men). Crowe defined Generation X with both Say Anything and Singles, then reinvented the romcom with Jerry Maguire before crafting one of the finest coming-of-age tales ever conceived with Almost Famous. Where the hell do you go from there? Well, Crowe decided to keep everything that had worked up until that point (sentimentality, music, relationships, memorable one-liners) but wrap it up in a story totally unlike anything he had produced before. You’ve got to respect the swing…
David Aames (Tom Cruise), the owner of a large publishing company inherited from his father, seemingly has it all. Women want him, namely his ‘fuck buddy’ Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz), men want to be him (the ‘men’ in this case being represented by Jason Lee’s loyal companion, Brian Shelby). Following a horrific car accident, however, David starts to lose his grip on reality. This is set against the backdrop of his burgeoning relationship with manic-pixie-dream-girl prototype Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz). Noah Taylor, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon make up the supporting cast.
Based on the Spanish film Abre los ojos by Alejandro Amenába, Vanilla Sky starts off as a fairly coherent psychological thriller before eventually descending into a muddled and disjointed mess of a film that is still utterly absorbing and compelling throughout. What makes it work is that the narrative falls apart on the same trajectory as David’s own breakdown. It doesn’t really matter that much of what are seeing onscreen doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because it reflects the inner turmoil of our protagonist. Which brings me on to Tom Cruise. I spoke in my Jerry Maguire review about how Cruise is not just one of the greatest leading men of all time but also an incredible actor, and anyone who doubts that should watch this performance. Yes, it’s a big performance, but this is not a film or a filmmaker noted for subtlety. The character of David Aames demands a big performance and Cruise more than delivers. He shares a great chemistry, not just with Diaz and Cruz, but also with Jason Lee – an incredibly underrated actor who has been unfairly pigeonholed as ‘the guy from Kevin Smith movies’. Cruz, reprising her role from the Spanish original, also does a great job with iffy material, bringing what could have been a stock character to sparkling life.
Vanilla Sky is a flawed film, of that there is no doubt, but it also presents us with some of the most aesthetically memorable sequences of the 21st century, it features moments more frightening and powerful than 90% of horror movies and, like all of Crowe’s work, the soundtrack is incredible. While it’s not quite as good as Jerry Maguire or Almost Famous, this is still bravura filmmaking.
