Open Your Eyes (1997) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski) and Tuna

Open Your Eyes, which is the English marketing name for the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, can best be best described as a homage to Rod Serling.

Serling is one of the few men in the history of science fiction to understand that the most frightening things we can face are inside our heads, and they are centered around two concepts: isolation and confusion. Of the two, isolation is the more important - the driving concept. Think of how Serling's mind worked, and you'll immediately understand what I mean. He explored isolation in all its aspects. 

• You are the only person in a world full of empty buildings, and you don't know why.
• Or else, the world is full of people, but they don't seem to notice you at all, as if you didn't exist.
• Or, you seem to be the only person who speaks your language, or of your species.
• Or, you return home one day to find everything is the same, except they don't know who you are.

And in every case, you don't understand what is going on. Isolation drives the fear, confusion magnifies the fear.

Open Your Eyes explores serious ideas as well. It is not so much about the nature of beauty as its effects. The hero is a very handsome man whose face is disfigured in an auto accident, and the effect that disfigurement has on the way he perceives himself and the way others perceive him. 

It is a story that Serling could easily have written, and he would have been proud of it. 

If I say too much more, I'll spoil it for you, and this isn't the kind of film you should spoil. Good entertainment. One of the better films of the past five years, and the best episode of The Twilight Zone since the original series went off the air. Plus it's a great looking film and Penelope Cruz removes her clothing. That's pretty close to heaven, right there.

Although nobody in the USA ever really got to see this film (gross $400,000), the esteemed director Cameron Crowe loved it enough that he's made an English language version called "Vanilla Sky", in which Cruz reprises her role, and Tom Cruise is new co-star. 

Abre los ojos (1997), English title Open Your Eyes is a first rate Sci Fi thriller from Spain. Giving a plot summary without spoilers would be as hard as doing the same for Fight Club, so if you are dying to know the plot, check out Berardinelli's detailed summary. Penelope Cruz shows her breasts, and Najwa Nimri has very brief breast exposure for sure, and clear but possibly double exposure (image 4).

The film examines the nature of reality, the importance of physical appearance, and what constitutes happiness. In director Alejandro Amenábar's second effort, he has created a unique and brilliant piece of cinema and is young enough to have dozens more films in his future. Because this film transcends many genres effortlessly, I give it a full B, and would award more except for the subtitle drawback.