This combo is kind of a cinema oddity because they are basically the same movie. A very handsome, vain man is disfigured in an accident. His life changes dramatically. Or does it? Or was he actually killed in the accident? Or is he in a coma and dreaming it all? Or was he actually in an accident in the first place? Or does the movie even exist? Or does any movie truly exist? (And … I guess you get the point.)
Abre Los Ojos came out in 1997 in Spanish. Cameron Crowe liked it and decided to remake it in English in 2001, thus offering Penelope Cruz a rare opportunity to play the same role in two different languages.
Abre Los Ojos has better nudity, and at least in my opinion, is the better film, although both are good. The Spanish version is darker, more cynical, more moralistic. In my original review, I said it was virtually an homage to Rod Serling. On the other hand, Cameron Crowe is … well, you know, he’s a hopeless romantic, which is why we love him, but that doesn’t make him the right man for a mind-fucking noir. With all of its “did that happen or not” vacillations, Vanilla Sky is more like a Christopher Nolan project.
Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky
Penelope Cruz in Abre Los Ojos
Excellent body
She is so charming and her body’s amazing. She had that commercial last year where she’s on an airplane and she looked fantastic.
Also, I can’t help but think OutKast’s Spearkerboxxx/The Love Below’s “Flip Flop Rock,”
“Penelope Ann Cruz couldn’t snooze
With her Eyes Wide Shut, before I asked to hit her gut
If you brunette, Legally Blonde, I might respond
Take you to Swan Lake and beyond
Antwan raps on, raps on
Clap-off, clap-on…”
I realize that their last names are even spelled differently, but they’re rare enough that having a Tom and Penelope sex scene is a little weird
They were a real-life couple for a time, and were often called “The Cruises” by on-air reporters. Tom himself once told an interviewer, “I thought, My God, I’m your boyfriend. You’re my girlfriend! … Cruise and Cruz!”