This Spanish-language mind bender was remade a few years later by Cameron Crowe (with Tom Cruise), but for my money you can't beat the original. A pretty boy-slash-playboy Cesar (Eduardo Noriega), a proud practitioner of one-night stands, meets cute with equally pretty girl Sofia (Penelope Cruz) at his birthday party, even though she arrived at the party with Cesar's best friend Pelayo. He's instantly smitten, and he and Sofia spend the entire night at her house, talking. As he's departing, though, he runs into a slightly off-balance ex, Nuria (Najwa Nimri), who's been stalking him (can't take no for an answer) and who offers him a lift back to his house. A car crash ensues, and next thing poor Cesar knows, he's in a mental institution, wearing a mask to cover his injuries, and accused of murder by the cops, with only sympathetic psychiatrist Antonio willing to listen to him. Cesar has dim memories of what's happened to the women in his life, and to himself, and he finds the line between dreams and reality being blurred to the point of obliteration. What's worse, it seems to him that Nuria has taken Sofia's place and identity - although to everyone else, she's always been Sofia. Confused yet? It makes some sense when you watch it. This movie was absolutely riveting throughout, and it's all told through Cesar's perspective - so the audience is also unsure what's real and what's a dream. Did Cesar commit murder? Is someone gaslighting him? Is he on Punk'd? Just an amazingly well-told story that had me on edge right up through the final, ambiguous scene.
Review of Open Your Eyes
