HOME > MOVIES > TAIWAN MOVIE OF THE MONTH

Vanilla Sky R Romance / Drama Released: 12-29-2001 Director: Cameron Crowe Cast: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell

David Aames (played by Tom Cruise) appears to lead a charmed life. He is young, handsome and wealthy, having inherited his father's successful New York publishing firm. Still a bachelor, he lives a free-wheeling lifestyle until, one night at his birthday celebration, he meets Sofia (played by Penelope Cruz), the woman of his dreams. With Sofia, David feels like he understands the true meaning of life.

But, things get complicated when he decides to break up with Julie (played by Cameron Diaz), with whom he has an on-again-off-again relationship. Julie doesn't take the news very well and decides to end her life by deliberately crashing her car. Unfortunately for David, he is sitting in the passenger's seat at the time. Julie dies and David survives, but is severely disfigured. From here, his life takes a 180-degree turn forcing him to do some major soul searching.
On top of that, David experiences a series of strange hallucinations, and starts to feel like he is losing control of his life.

The director skillfully superimposes reality and fantasy, so that the audience is kept in the dark about what parts of David's life are illusions and what parts are real. Thus, those expecting a pure love story may be surprised by the intricacies of the plot.

In terms of the cast, there is not much to complain about. Tom Cruise is a strong leading man, even though for most of the movie his face is disfigured, or he is wearing a mask. Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz give powerful performances and there is a great on-screen chemistry between Cruise and Cruz.

This is a suspense thriller that follows one man's search for true love and allows Tom Cruise to show off and expand on his talents. Vanilla Sky sticks pretty close to the formula used in the film "Abre Los Ojas" (Open Your Eyes), upon which it is based. Suspense builds from the very beginning and there are a number of plot twists and turns until just before the ending, when the audience starts to be able to distinguish reality from fantasy, and understand the path that David's life is taking.

Although this movie is a major Hollywood production with big-name stars, it also has a good story, and it is the depth of the story that makes the movie succeed.

More Taiwan Movies