No, it has nothing to do with the movie of the same title from this year. It does have a remake, but that was Vanilla Sky (2001), reputedly not as good. Both versions include Penelope Cruz in the same role; in OYE (a.k.a. Abre los ojos), she's the only actor whose name meant something to me. At least I'd already had a taste of director Alejandro Amenábar with The Others.
César (Eduardo Noriega) is a Madrid aristocrat and quite the lothario, prone even to swiping dates from his friend (Fele Martínez) -- until the day after his 25th birthday. His most recent ex, Nuria (Najwa Nimri), doesn't want him to move on to the likely next girlfriend, Sofía (Cruz), so she talks him into her car and deliberately crashes. Nuria reportedly dies, and César's face is so injured that even the best surgery money can buy can hardly make him presentable again. Sometimes he takes to wearing a rather realistic yet unmoving mask. He hopes that Sofía will still be receptive to him. And then things start to become hard to explain....
The Netflix description makes it sound like a mere drama about a formerly lucky guy learning humility, but we know a few minutes in that there's more to it than that: César is narrating his story from jail to a psychiatrist (Chete Lera), giving background to explain why he's being charged with murder and why the situation is not what the police think. Before this, we're treated to a dream sequence that doesn't immediately look impossible. There are multiple "wake-ups" herein, neither played for laughs nor philosophically quirky like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
Without getting into specifics, let's just note that OYE came a couple years before a slew of movies that involved characters questioning their perception of reality. This becomes a big theme in the second half, with an ambiguous ending. I bet if Cameron Crowe hadn't taken on the remake, Christopher Nolan would have leapt at it.
My addition of the "thriller" tag is a slight stretch; other sources don't include it. But developments certainly get disconcerting. First of all, the disfigurement is considerable. We never see it at its worst, but this isn't one of those movies that tries to pass mildly handsome off as ugly. Second, when things finally start looking up for César again, something feels a bit off. Then very off. He goes from living the dream to being trapped in a nightmare, and he doesn't know what to trust anymore. Noriega does some fine acting even in a mask.
The R rating is not for violence. Yes, there's the aforementioned crash and apparent death(s), but mainly it's for getting to see the manwhore at work and encountering a lot of profanity. (I don't know whether the dubbing is as faithful in that regard as the subtitles.)
I've been missing this kind of psychological buzz. I'm so glad I didn't let an inadequate summary turn me away. Now I wonder if Amenábar will impress me a third time....
No comments:
Post a Comment