The darker side of 'Vanilla Sky'

Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) - R\nStarring: Penélope Cruz, Eduardo Noriega\nDirected by: Alejandro Amerábar\nThe source material for Cameron Crowe's recent effort "Vanilla Sky," was "Abre Los Ojos," a bizarre sci-fi/drama lensed by talented young director Alejandro Amenábar, who achieved great success last year with "The Others." Amenábar is the Spanish equivalent to M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense"). He's a young dude churning out otherworldy flicks of mind-boggling proportions topped-off with twisted endings.\n"Abre Los Ojos" is a much darker film than its United States remake. So far as narrative goes the two are almost identical. But the way characters are depicted (Amenábar's are far more cruel to one another) and the films' closing moments couldn't be more different. Where "Vanilla Sky" left viewers with a sense of hope, "Abre Los Ojos" is scathing, cynical, cold and violent.\nEduardo Noriega headlines the film as César, a wealthy restauranteur who has the finer things in life delivered to him on a silver platter. He's in the midst of a casual affair with Nuria (Najwa Nimri), an incredibly possessive and emotionally unstable sex-kitten. Soon after, his best friend Pelayo (Fele Martínez) brings a gorgeous actress named Sofía (Penélope Cruz) whom he met at the library to César's birthday party. César is immediately smitten with the captivating actress with no thought to his friend's feelings. Nuria gets jealous, all hell breaks loose and fantasy and reality begin to intermingle.\nThe film is fascinating, and much like Amenábar's "The Others," the camera work is first-rate. The acting, while good, is no match for the American cast which consisted of Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Jason Lee. Cruz especially has improved upon her original performance, and it's interesting as a viewer to see the difference between the two.\nThe films of Amenábar and Crowe, while similar on the surface really couldn't be much different. The original has none of the pop culture references of Crowe's update, focusing instead on the sci-fi elements of the story. All in all, I prefer "Vanilla Sky" to "Abre Los Ojos," but both are interesting and well worth a look.\n

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