A Comparison Question?

You make a very good point. There does seem to be much less chemistry going on between Eduardo and Penelope than with Tom and Penelope. Also, Jason Lee's character was written and played strongly with him telling off his so-called best friend for being such a self-absorbed jerk.

I like both of them and found both quite deep and faithful to the artistic truth. But, of course, I'm indifferent to the whole Tom Cruise debate and the foreign vs Hollywood arguments as well.

I'm glad Cameron Crowe did VS and consider it laudable that Penelope Cruz reprised her role as Sofia in VS.

And let's face it, often times the subtitle translations leave something to be desired. Try watching an English language film with subtitles and notice how often the subtitles differ from the actual dialog. Usually they're condensed a bit. And the inflections on individual words and other nuances are not reflected in subtitles.

Hi there! While I do respect your opinion, I have to actually disagree with your comment about Abre Los Ojos being less poignant than the American remake. Having seen both versions, the American remake did not have the same emotional impact on me that the Spanish original did, and I actually sympathised more with Cesar than I did with David.

I don't know how relevent the language barrier is in this case, but being fluent in both Spanish and English, it was easier for me to distinguish the feeling of both movies and the emotions portrayed by each of the characters. In my opinion, Cesar's feelings and his interaction with Sofia felt more realistic to me, than the ones between David and Sofia. To me, the "chemistry" between David an Sofia felt forced rather than properly developed, and their interaction with each other felt very cliche to me.

One of the things that bothered me about the remake (and one that may have led American audiences to interpret the concept of the story differently), is the fact that Cameron Crowe strays away from the main point of the Spanish original, by placing more emphasis on the love triangle between the three main characters.

In the Spanish original, the love triangle was a subplot of the movie, not the main one. The whole movie was meant to be centred around Cesar and the way he perceives himself, his relationships, and the world around him. At the beginning of the movie, it is made very clear that this character is very vain. He's rich, he's handsome, and he's a womanizer. Even when he meets Sofia at the party earlier in the movie, he is merely infatuated with her, not really a "love at first sight" type situation. In that sequence as well, it is also very evident that he has very little regard for the feelings of others including Nuria and his best friend Pelayo. It is not until he becomes disfigured that he starts to see himself as he really is, and becomes frustrated with the fact that people will never again perceive him as the handsome guy that he once was.

As a handsome man, Sofia would have most likely been another bed conquest for him. But as a disfigured man, he actually sees past his own vanity and starts to value his friends more. This also allows him to grow as a person.

When he goes after Sofia after the accident, he tries to reestablish some kind of friendship with her in hopes that she would come to accept him and lead to a relationship. But the Sofia in the real world is instead intimidated by him, not for his disfigurement, but rather because she was afraid of his intentions with her. It was for this reason as well -in my opinion- that she goes back to Pelayo, Cesar's best friend in the movie. Naturally this makes Cesar believe, that unless he is handsome again, she will not accept him as he is, and this further adds fuel to his obsession with his appearance.

All of these things get reflected in the dream sequences of the movie, even after he gets his face repaired in his dream. Even though he actually changes and comes to love Sofia, the movie continues to reinforce the fact that Cesar is still very much a vain person. Even after he "regains his looks", gets the girl, and lives a successful life, his biggest fear remains losing his looks. His hatred for Nuria is also stemmed from the fact that it was her fault he lost his good looks in the first place.

In a way this makes him more human, because he believes that his looks are the only thing people like about him. Unless he's handsome, none of his other virtues will matter to others. It is also this mentality that compromises his relationships with Pelayo and Sofia, and the source of all his nightmares.

In the American remake, I felt that most of these themes were watered down significantly to the point that the characters reactions lacked the depth that was present in the Spanish original. Everything from the dialogue to the flirting felt very superficial to me. As for the actual relationship between Sofia and the main character, I don't think it was ever Amenabar's intention to establish a love story between these two characters, which is why they may feel "disconnected" to the audience. Cesar's getting together with Sofia was meant to be the fantasy, but not the reality. It's also for this reason that the relationship feels like it lacks substance. It was never there to begin with. The first time they met and flirted, to Sofia this was a casual encounter, and nothing to be taken seriously.

Having said all that, I do agree with you that the chemistry between Cesar and Sofia is not strong. But the truth is it was never meant to be strong in the first place. As I mentioned earlier, the story is about Cesar and how he perceives himself, his relationships, and the world around him. Abre Los Ojos was never meant to be a love story, and Vanilla Sky should have never been written as such. With all this being said, the relationship between David and Sofia should have never come off as strong either since the story should have been about David's perception of life, including his fantasies.

To be fair though, I did like how Cameron Crowe did attempt to keep it very close to the original. He even successfully replicated alot of the major sequences, while adding in a little bit of his own touch to the story. However I didn't feel like he successfully translated the main idea of the original movie in his remake.

I've seen Vanilla Sky several times and tonight I FINALLY watched Abre Los Ojos for the FIRST time.

I agree, there seemed to be sooooo much more chemistry and connection between Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. While I agree a lot is lost during translation, I have to also say I much preferred Cameron Diaz as the woman who was obsessed with David/Cesar.

What I liked in Abre Los Ojos more than Vanilla Sky are the subtle differences, such as Cesar's best friend, after Cesar had beat up Sophia, who really (for us and Cesar) wasn't Sophia, saw the picture of her beaten up and it was the other girl. As a matter of fact, Cesar was the only one who could see the picture and know it was the other girl. That was written much better.

Also, the ending was much better and mind-boggling in Abre Los Ojos. I had a dream not too long ago that I died while swimming. I had gone out into the deep a bit further than I should have gone. Then I couldn't hold my head up above the water any longer and went under and water began to fill my lungs but at the very instant that I began to panic...at the very split second I became afraid...I woke up. Here. In my home. It was all so strange. So, to see Cesar realize he is dreaming but not know how to wake up, and then the gentleman asks, "How do you wake up from a nightmare?" WOW, that was creepy for me.

I also had a dream where someone I knew morphed into someone I didn't know so all of that dream talk the psychiatrist did really hit home, too.

You know, they could've created the movie without even using the part about being frozen. Just the dreaming issue alone is a great enough topic to write a script.

They were both terrific movies and, to me, it was a pleasure watching both. They both entertained me and they both made me think.

Bravo!

I recently saw both movies back to back. I've previously seen bits from VS, but never sat through the whole movie and ALO was completely new to me. I watched ALO first and then VS for comparison. ALO is more of a story about a person, his growth (or lack of it), about the choices we make and their consequences that come sooner or later, while VS was a typical Hollywood love story. Its remarkable really, given the fact that the two movies had almost identical scripts.

I did feel quite sorry for Caesar in ALO, even though he was a completely unlikeable character, he felt more realistic and human. I really liked the fact that his supposed connection with Sofia was notably missing. It was supposed to be only in his imagination. He tried everything to start a relationship with her after the accident, because she was representing his previous life, being literally the last good thing to happen to him. Had he never had the accident, she would have probably been just a quick fling. And I liked that Sofia was acting like a real human and not overly romanticized heroine. She flirted with the guy, she probably liked him ,and she tried to be friend with him at the club, but there was simply not enough connection there.
Another very interesting difference to me was the way the after club scene was handled. Sofia and Pelayo are talking to each other, smiling, flirting, obviously reconnecting. Later , after he leaves Caesar alone, its quite obvious that he indeed goes after Sofia (as Caesar imagined), and that they do start a relationship with each other.
The same scene in VS had entirely different dynamic. Brian only went after Sofia in David's imagination. And they had to include the absolutely unnecessary twist that Brian might have told Julie about the f. buddy comment.
I have to say that I loved Penelope's performance both times,though I liked the role of Sofia better in ALO. I don't find Eduardo Noriega particularly attractive (a matter of taste), but he just oozed confidence and charm, and that really worked for him at the beginning of the movie. I don't mind Tom Cruise, but everything in David was too Hollywoodazed, even his face didn't seem that disfigured after the incident. But this is actually a matter of script and acting.
I have always had a soft spot for Jason Lee, and I like him in his non-comedy roles. But I didn't like how his character was written. He came off as bitter and vengeful. This is not Pelayo from ALO, good, honest and decent. And I have to say that I'm having a bit of a crush on Fele Martinez ever since I saw him in ALO.

ALl in all, ALO is a great, thought provoking and original movie. VS is a beautifully shot, love story based on a very original movie.