I just love Penelope Cruz ( Serbian Emina Jahović from Novi Pazar, Kosovo and cousin sister of Turkey basketball player and the NBA Superstar in "Kings" where he'd been playing with legendary Serbian Basketball player Vlade Divac "The Lakers". For those who don't know who Emina Jahović is, I can only say that she is supermodel and famous singer in Bosna and Hercegovina and Republika Srpska ( West side of the border with Serbia across the river Drina. Btw, it's the name of Robert De Niro's daughter, who was given that name, because her father was so much impressed with SFR Yugoslavia. Exceally, he was driving a bicycle when he visited Neapolis-Niš, about 52 years ago. That's one of Serbian most beautiful cities at the South nearby The Kosovo and Metohija ). This movie is the original version of The Vanilla Sky ( Tom Cruise ).

...whatever that genre is. I'm not sure there's a name for it, but if there were, there would be no trouble filling a shelf with the relevant titles. It's the Truman Show genre, the Inception genre, the Shutter Island genre, etc.It's not as strong as the above-mentioned films, but it's still fun to follow the twists and turns on the edge of your seat.Maybe I'm disappointed, in part, because I liked the premise that was established in the first fifteen minutes or so. The film starts out as a condemnation of physical beauty, with the phrase "open your eyes" suggesting paradoxically that one must not look only with his or her eyes in determining the value of a human being. It's a cliché of sorts, but I liked it.This theme becomes less relevant as the film progresses. By the end of the film, the phrase "open your eyes" loses its moral relevance. It just becomes a boring, nearly literal description of how the protagonist has a hard time know what is and isn't real. You can argue that, therefore e, it has a double (triple?) meaning, but it's kind of arbitrary, in that the second half of the movie really doesn't build on or develop the themes from the first half.Yeah, anyway, so it's pretty cool, but IMDb's 7.8 seems a little high to me. Good movie, good entertainment, but not quite brilliant.

Open Your Eyes is a Spanish film directed by Alejandro Amenábar which was written by himself and Mateo Gil. It stars Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Fele Martínez and Najwa Nimri.The movie's intersecting planes of dream and reality is one characteristic it has that will astonish the viewer and would probably find it interesting.I even consider this a superior film compared to its Hollywood remake,Vanilla Sky.The line between dreams and reality become increasingly blurred after a womanizing playboy is nearly killed by a jilted lover.It would seem as if Cesar (Noriega) has it all. Handsome, charming, and with money to burn, he can get any girl he wants, and usually does so on a nightly basis. Following a birthday party in which he chats up Sofia (Cruz), the date of his best friend Pelayo, Cesar is plunged headfirst into a nightmare world when jealous former lover Nuria swallows a handful of pills and sends her car careening into a cement wall with the terrified playboy as her hapless passenger. With his formerly strikingly handsome face now twisted into a hideous mass of scarred flesh, Cesar's ugly emotions are now externalized for all to see. Pining for a plastic- surgery miracle to return him to his former glory so that he can seek out Sofia and take a chance at real love, he is pleasantly surprised when the doctors make a breakthrough and Sofia accepts him back into her life. Although all seems perfect for the moment, the formerly soulless player finds that this is only the beginning of his increasingly disturbing journey. Why is Sofia changing appearance and turning into Nuria periodically? And why won't the police and his psychiatrist believe Cesar's desperate attempts to rationalize a world that is growing increasingly surreal? Could it have something to do with a doctor Cesar has seen on television who keeps appearing and attempting to help him out of his nightmare? Peeling away at the layers of his subconscious, Cesar begins to realize that reality is no more than a state of mind, and that in order to get his life back he may be forced to take unthinkable measures.This is a deeply complex psychological mind warp of a film that begs to be viewed more than once to get full understanding of the movie.At the same time,it takes more than one viewing to realize that it is a is thought provoking feature and allows us to contemplate to live the dream not the nightmare.Aside from that,it is a film that really does challenge its audience's expectations and suppositions at every turn.The performances of this movie were simply outstanding especially Eduardo Noriega,who definitely allows the viewer to care for his character.While Penelope Cruz delivers in her role as Sofia.And finally,this is one visually stunning product is no less absorbing and haunting, not to mention surprisingly moving.In short,it is a masterpiece.It is a must-see for people who love great movies.

Although I didn't get to see 'Vanilla Sky' in 2001, when I got the chance to see it was still a relatively recent movie. Back then I didn't know yet that many of the recent movies I saw were in reality remakes. In other words, I didn't know there were original versions.At the time, I had good expectations about "Vanilla Sky", partially because of its delicious title and partially because it appeared to be good. I was frankly disappointed with it.This one, the original and true version, is superior, easily eclipsing the remake. Even what seemed good in "Vanilla Sky" before seems mediocre next to the original. If you want 'Vanilla Sky' done right, don't look any further - this is it.Admittedly, it's still not an "easy" movie, but it's marginally easier to understand than the flawed American version. But even the original requires extra attention, otherwise it will be even more confusing. It's also more intriguing, more suspenseful, more tragic, more touching, more original, more artistic, deeper and more intense, not to mention it has a very nice soundtrack.Overall, a movie of higher quality. And ahead of its time. In 1997, movies this brave and complex were something from another world or even another planet. Nowadays we easily find movies like this, but in 1997 that was another music.On paper, "Abre los ojos" is the predictable story of a young man (César) who has everything in life: he is rich, good-looking, popular among his friends and lucky with women. That's the easy part. Behind this simple idea lies an extraordinary and exceptionally complex story. Unexpectedly, César meets the charming Sofia and instantly falls in love with her. She corresponds but soon César's life changes completely, when his insanely jealous lover Nuria tricks him into a trap by offering him a ride, covering her true intentions. She intentionally commits suicide by crashing the car. César survives, but his face gets seriously deformed.César is willing to pay anything for a cosmetic surgery, so that he can have his normal face again, return to his life and reconquer Sofia. Much for César's sorrow, nobody can (or doesn't want to) operate his face. After that traumatizing experience, César becomes emotionally unstable, aggressive, confused, deeply depressed and his mental health changes dangerously: he suffers from flashbacks, disturbing visions, is unable to distinguish dreams from reality and even confounds Sofia with Nuria - and by seeing Nuria instead of Sofia, he reacts with violence to that and the innocent Sofia is the one who pays. To tell the truth, the film comes to a point which is almost impossible to tell what's real and what's not - but all this complicated mess only makes it more interesting and remarkable. An amazing yet strong movie with also a surprising ending...But the movie isn't all about tragedy. There is also a romance between César and Sofia, and there is some sexuality. The lovely Penélope Cruz is seen naked. Penélope is beautiful with clothes, but naked she is simply divine. And she's got very lovely boobs.Eduardo Noriega is superb, so much better than Tom Cruise. The actress who plays Nuria, despite her minor role, is clearly superior to Cameron Diaz. Penélope Cruz is in both versions and plays the same role in both but she is better in this one. Maybe it was the pressure and boredom of doing the same thing twice, which affects the performance? Maybe because in the original she speaks her native language? Must be that. Not that I blame her. I love Chete Lera's fantastic acting as Antonio and Gérard Barray's terrific acting as Serge Duvernois (and he speaks Spanish so well that you don't even notice any french accent on him). Fele Martínez is good as César's friend Pelayo.Title in Portugal: 'De Olhos Abertos'.