*** Official "VANILLA SKY" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Greg_Y]

While VS was dull, drawn-out, and melodramatic, ALO was interesting, well-paced and dramatic

And one of the better examples of this is the fight between the two friends after one of them leaves the police station. In VS, it's awkward and goes nowhere. In, ALO it raises the bar on the tension.

 

[Patrick Barrett]

Obviously talking about the end is going to have spoilers.

Everyone says the ending is obvious but what bugs me is when he opens his eyes, you hear 'Open your eyes'. I'm pretty good with recognizing voices and I swear thats Penillipe cruz saying that to him. How could that be? I guess I'm looking too into a movie such as this, but it kinda bugged me.

 

[Joe_C]

Here's the "Official Discussion Thread" for Vanilla Sky:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ht=Vanilla+Sky
It was a pretty good discussion if I remember correctly. Check it out. It hits on your question several times.

 

[Patrick Barrett]

Ok I noticed a few people commenting on cruz saying open your eyes at the very beginning. But I haven't seen anyone mention that she also says it at the very end of the film, as if its beginning all again. Cause if it is 150 years into the future he most certainly wouldn't hear cruz's voice again. So maybe Roger Ebert wasn't so off in saying that it's all a dream. Or maybe there was a glitch in his lucid life and they need to reset the variables so to speak, and they do this by convincing the subject that he's going to the real world now.

 

[Brad_V]

The person who said, "This is the A.I. of this month," was right on. You have two acts of storytelling, and then *poof* "And now for something completely different." I s'pose I would have liked it more if I had cared about the first half of the movie *at all*.

Ah well, it still beats "Eyes Wide Shut." I couldn't even finish that one.

 

[Chuck C]

Lemme get this straight...was the whole movie a friggin dream? It's either he's this rich guy with a ton of money who bought into LE for lucid dreaming or he was born lonely and permanently had dreams that he was rich and powerful except something went awry. So which is it?

 

[MichaelAW]

It's whatever you want it to be. Personally, I accept the literal explanation given by the tech support guy at the end.

However, in the commentary, Cameron Crowe mentions four interpretations (none of which he particularly subscribes to), including an intriguing fourth one I hadn't thought of until he mentioned it:

That the whole story was the novel written by Jason Lee's character about his best friend, David Aames.

I believe he suggested that ending when he met the original film's director and he (whose name I can't remember) said that was something he hadn't considered, but thought it was a valid explanation as well. It certainly prompts some thinking.

 

[Chuck C]

oooo, I like the fourth one. Clever movie, even if the ending was a "lil out there".

 

[Martin_Frohlich]

Ok, maybe people can help answer some questions. I saw this movie last week and not so sure the ending is as obvious as some would think (or is it?). Here are four possible scenarios I think you could take away from the movie:

1)Cruise did kill himself after the accident by overdosing on medication and then was in cryo freeze until the very end of the movie, then he wakes up.

2)He went into a coma after the car accident and everything after the accident is a dream like state where he subconsciously has dreams that reflect his real life and some of his short comings (greed,power, money, love, hate,etc..).

3)The whole movie was a dream and when he wakes up at the end that says “Open your eyes” is his girl friend waking him up. Like number 2, this was him subconsciously reflecting on his life.

A 4th version that came up in a discussion with a friend is that the whole thing was his friends novel that was written about his life.

I think #1 is the widely accepted answer but I am not so sure it is the only explanation.

 

[Dahna]

This has been discussed on this thread, but you probably have now had time to go back and read through all the posts. Here's another site to check: Link Removed
Have fun!

 

[Sam Davatchi]

OK! Just saw this movie for the first time on DVD and of course this is my first time that I come into this topic! Well I enjoyed this movie and later found out that it’s a remake of a supposedly superior movie! Seeing the original will be on my list of things to do. Frankly I feel guilty and bad a little! Why on earth they would feel the need to copy (notice copy, not a remake!) a “great” recent movie! It feels arrogant and unfair to steal someone else’s originality and work and try to pass it as theirs! At the moment I have the feeling that I have read a translated book! When you do that, you never say what a great story the translator created! So I enjoyed immensely Vanilla Sky with no thanks to TC or CC!

 

[Chuck Mayer]

They didn't really "steal" the film...they brought the story to a larger audience using a talented director. Consider it a "cover" of a great song by a very different artist (Crowe). Alejandro Amenabar (spelling - forgive me) was given quite a bit of power in Hollywood (see The Others) thanks to the DEAL he made with certain individuals. No one was robbed. Just my take.

Take care,

Chuck

 

[TonyD]

has anyone yet had any thoughts on thend when we here a voice that says open your eyes.

this would seem to ndicate that the entire movie was a dream of some type.

lucid induced or a simple regular dream.

also there were several scenes that had someone telling him to "wake up david" or "david wake up"

more then enough times to make you notice it.

 

[DaveF]

this would seem to ndicate that the entire movie was a dream of some type.

It was stated explicitly that the entire latter half of the movie was a dream.

 

[TonyD]

It was stated explicitly that the entire latter half of the movie was a dream.

i know people here have said that but why couldnt the whole movie be a dream? he wanted to lucid dream maybe he figured out how to do it but couldnt figure out how to wake up until the end when he jumped off the roof.

then we hear a voice say open your eyes and we see one eye very close ...open.

 

[Jeremiah]

I thought it was quite clear.

He was in a lucid dream but it became a nightmare and the L.E. head came in and told him he can have another dream or be thawed and have his face fixed and experience reality.

I wanted it to end with him being stuck in that nightmare.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Since I'm assuming most of the people in this thread have seen the movie, I won't put spoiler tags on.

It was my understanding that the entire movie, from the very beginning to the very end, was a dream. We hear Penelope Cruz say "open your eyes" at the end, which would suggest that she is his actual girlfriend and that Cameron Diaz was either someone he knew or a not real. The whole cryogenic freezing thing never happened, but was just his mind making it up.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Yes, but when a filmmaker goes out of his way to VISUALLY (via technique and art direction) alter the film at the same point that the narrative claims is the beginning of a dream, then I go with that version.

I really like Vanilla Sky and like the whole "Open Your Eyes" story, but I wouldn't put it in the mind-fuck catagory of something like Muholland Drive or Zentropa. It played it much safer than that.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Yeah, this isn't even comparable to Mulholland Dr. Then again, Mulholland Dr. is a lot better.

 

[MichaelAW]

We hear Penelope Cruz say "open your eyes" at the end,

Morgan: No, we don't. It's a popular misconception, but that voice at the end of the movie is neither Cruz nor Diaz's. It belongs to a different actress entirely, credited as "The Future," I believe.
It's the voice of the nurse at the LE clinic when David wakes up, IMO.