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Plot synopsis César [Noriega] is young, handsome, wealthy, and supremely satisfied with his position in life. Just about the only thing he has to complain about is that his sometime bed-partner, Nuria, has lately been pushing for a real relationship. Unfortunately for Nuria, he’s just not in love with her. When Nuria shows up uninvited at César’s birthday bash, César’s more than a trifle irked, and ends up turning to a beautiful new acquaintance named Sofia [Cruz] – who also happens to be his best friend’s date – to help him escape from Nuria’s persistent presence. César charms his way into taking Sofia home at the end of the evening … and after staying up all night doing little more than just plain talking with her, leaves her apartment the next day and finds he’s fallen in love. Unfortunately, that very same morning he makes a very, very bad decision. He gets in a car with the scorned Nuria, who’s so angry and hurt that she drives the car straight off the road. The terrible accident kills Nuria and leaves César horribly injured. Despite all his money, which buys him access to all the best doctors and all the latest medical techniques, César’s formerly beautiful face is left a disfigured mess. Review
I really, really wish I had seen Open
Your Eyes before I’d seen Vanilla Sky, the Americanized
remake directed by Cameron Crowe – there’s something so wrong about
comparing the original to the copy rather than vice versa. Better yet, I
wish Vanilla Sky hadn’t been made at all – it’s such a
literal copy of the Amenábar’s much-lauded little movie that it’s
not entirely clear to me why they wasted the money to make it. As it
stands, I’m pretty sure that Vanilla Sky ruined my ability to
fully appreciate Open Your Eyes: when your first exposure to an
idea is a really good copy, it makes the original look less, well,
original. Which is totally unfair, of course. But enough with the
comparisons. Open Your Eyes still offers a mind-bender of a plot:
what starts off looking like a simple cliché story about a guy who
thinks he has it all only to discover that he’s missing the most
important thing of all, that being love, gradually reveals itself to be
something just a tad more complex. The love story turns into a
suspenseful thriller, then morphs into the realm of sci-fi, as we begin
to question whether Cesar’s story is reality, or merely his own crazed
delusions, or something much stranger altogether. The narrative meanders
backwards and forwards in time – the past tumbles into the present
merges with dreams – constantly thwarting your expectations and
throwing new loops into your attempts at finding an explanation for
exactly what it is that’s going on. Factor in the excellent, subtle
acting – I like Penelope Cruz so much better when she’s speaking in
her native tongue – and some gorgeously surreal scenes, and you have
one arty European film that’s as entertaining to watch as it is
beautiful and thought-provoking.
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