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Open Your Eyes

Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Genre: Thriller
Year: 1997
Rating: 5 / 5

Reviewed by Guest Scribe Legend

In Open Your Eyes, young Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar scores an excellent movie starring Eduardo Noriega as the tortured César and Penelope Cruz as Sofía, the woman he falls in love with. This is a thriller of the most interesting kind - the one you don't see coming. Having heard nothing about Open Your Eyes or Vanilla Sky, the American retelling of the story, I was carried through an unbelievable journey which kept me puzzled, even at the end. It is a pity I had to see Vanilla Sky at all, since in my opinion it is inferior to Open Your Eyes up and down. The story is generally the same, but whereas Open Your Eyes lets the viewer do some thinking on his or her own terms, Vanilla Sky spells it out to suck the imagination right out of the viewer. Moreover, all the best scenes from Vanilla Sky are transplanted identically from Open Your Eyes, and seeing them with different actors in no way enhanced my enjoyment of the story or the original film. I also believe the extraneous parts of Vanilla Sky thrown in are completely unnecessary - that with the board of directors fighting to take over a corporation he controls and the like.

This does not set out to be a comparison with Vanilla Sky, but I found the latter movie hopelessly pointless. That is to say, there's no point in remaking Open Your Eyes, since it cannot be improved upon, big-name actors be damned.

The first half of the film is a romance. Something about Sofía is so enchanting that it causes César to move in on his best friend Pelayo's (Fele Martínez) woman. The two have instant chemistry, but their connection comes at the expense of Nuria (Najwa Nimri), who has something of a stalker's obsession for César.

After a car crash leaves César's face horribly disfigured, the movie takes a different turn. It suddenly becomes nonlinear and one is constantly sparring with what is dream and what is reality, a constant message that pervades the film with the recurring edict: "Abre los ojos" ("Open your eyes"). As the plot threads unraveled, I thought to myself more and more what a cool movie it is, and the ending does not disappoint, a cliffhanger which keeps your heart beating quicker than normal

I found Open Your Eyes thoroughly engrossing. It's an intense, pensive thriller that sweeps you off your feet and drops you on your head. The only thing negative I have to say about this movie is that it was remade. Viewers of Vanilla Sky will most assuredly think to themselves, "I've seen this before," and the plot will be largely spoiled. However, Open Your Eyes is a triumph in its own right, and an excellent accomplishment for Amenábar, from which more good things (such as The Others starring Nicole Kidman) are bound to come.

Cast:

Certification: Rated R for sexual situations and violence.
Running Time: 117 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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