Hey folks, Harry here. I had heard of a screening that took place in Los Angeles about a week or so back. In fact about a half dozen folks that attended wrote me, and a couple called to give me the lowdown that they loved this new cut. Two different folks had seen all three cuts that have been tested, and both of them told me that this latest cut... Well if you remember, that first cut got pretty damn fine reviews on the site, however the last cut had about 45 minutes cut from the film, and some began having problems with the film. Word has it that Cameron Crowe did a bit of reshooting, re-editing and has come up with by far the best version of VANILLA SKY yet. It's so nice to see the testing process used by a filmmaker for the crafting of a superior film. Beware of spoilers below...
Hey Harry,
This report is about a week overdue, but I still wanted to get it in to ya... for partial credit, at least. Anyway, I attended a test screening of VANILLA SKY last week, and wanted to throw out a few words about this most excellent experience... especially considering how there have been no reports filed about this particular screening (none that I've caught, at least).
First off, I gotta say that I've managed to avoid any and all reviews of VANILLA SKY... until I got the chance to see this awesome, awesome remake for myself. With that said, I'm not sure how many test screenings, etc. this film has had up until now, but the print I saw was still in fairly rough form. But that didn't take away any from the brilliance of the film itself.
I should also get out of the way the fact that I have not seen the original film on which VANILLA SKY is based (ABRE LOS OJOS ("Open Your Eyes")--also with Penelope Cruz). One of my friends, however (who has seen both), made the comment that VANILLA blew the original out of the sky (sorry, I had to do it). In theory, I think it's a genius concept to have Penelope Cruz portray the same character in two separate adaptations of the same story... in two different languages, much less. Not to mention a pretty brilliant career move. Now, I'm no huge Penelope Cruz fan, but I gotta give it to her (huh-huh) on this one.
So, anyway, I don't want to give away too much about the plot of the film, but I will say that structurally it is only comparable to a multi-layered, architecturally pristine, finely crafted German chocolate cake (don't read too much into that analogy, ye cynical bastards). In short, the film works. The beauty of SKY is that the story crescendoes slowly and methodically to an apex of pure mind-fucking frustration, at which point it changes gears to wind down and bring the entire picture into focus.
As I'm sure most of you reading this are aware, SKY juggles a couple of parallel stories around, which it weaves in all possible directions, resulting in the oblivious mess at its highest point of massive confusion. It is there that the interwoven plots begin to unwind and reveal the brilliance of the underlying story.
As if the story isn't strong enough, the performances in the film add an entirely new level of magnificence. As I said, I'm not a huge Cruz fan, but she really does a great job with this one. As does Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, about whom I need to say no more. Another genuine gem is the performance turned out by Jason Lee. Having been a fan of Lee's since the ol' 'RATS days, I was very glad/excited to see him succeed with this role. Also, be on the lookout for some great (and subtle) cameos; ones which I won't spoil here. They're hella-sweet! All around, the performances are all great, living up to the high-profile cast and hype.
The one problem I had with SKY was its visual design. Not that it was "bad" by any means, but it didn't hit me with the same kind of force that ALMOST FAMOUS had on me. I found it to be kinda surprising, as the DP (John Toll) on SKY also did FAMOUS. Maybe I'm talking out of my ass, but something about SKY's "look" wasn't at the level I was hoping for based on Crowe's past work. Then again, maybe I'm just looking for something to pidgeonhole, as in most other senses this film is practically air-tight.
Overall, SKY should look forward to a pretty warm critical welcome. As far as box office goes, the only turn-off to your average movie-goer would be the serpentine, tangled plot. If people accept the plot for what it is and don't try to read into it so much that they convolute it even more than it is, all should be well.
To me, the film works, and it works well. All around, VANILLA SKY is another slab of solid gold in Cameron Crowe's vault.
Rock on,
Eraserhead
