# Abre los ojos (1997)

### reviewed by
Akiva Gottlieb

    Open Your Eyes(Abre Los Ojos) ***

rated R in Spanish with English subtitles an Artisan Films release starring Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martinez, Gerard Barray, Pepe Navarro, Najwa Nimri written by Alejandro Amenabar and Mateo Gil directed by Alejandro Amenabar

As anyone who has seen The Matrix and eXistenZ knows, this year we have has an abundance of exceptional science-fiction films. I am not a very big sci-fi fan, but as the year 2000 approaches, these films have begun to fascinate me immensely.

The latest entry into the genre, Alejandro Amenabar's psychological thriller Open Your Eyes, suffers from bad timing. While the film is indeed very good, I have seen it shortly after two very similar films(look in the first paragraph), and the originality doesn't strike me nearly as much as it could have.

Open Your Eyes is the story of Cesar(Eduardo Noriega), a young, handsome, wealthy Spanish man who finds himself accused of a murder which he is sure he didn't commit(If you think this sounds like Dark City, you're not the only one. Infact, the first scene of Open Your Eyes, a dream sequence, shows Cesar waking up, going outside, and realizing that there is no one on the streets). As he is interrogated by a prison psychologist(Chete Lera), we, through the eyes of Cesar, try to figure out exactly what happened.

Cesar decides to throw a party at his house, and his best friend Pelayo(Fele Martinez) brings with him Sofia(Penelope Cruz), a beautiful woman whom he met in the library. Cesar falls instantly in love, and he ends up taking her back to her home after the party.

After a night of chatting, they agree to meet again the next day. But as Cesar walks outside, his lusty mistress, Nuria(Najwa Nimri), drives by in her car, and begs him to join her for one last rendezvous. He gets in the car, and she ends up driving off the side of the road and hitting a tree, killing herself and completely wrecking Cesar's face.

>From then on, the film goes through many, many twists as Cesar tries to figure out what the hell is going on. There is a line in this year's extraordinary The Matrix in which Morpheus(Laurence Fishburne) asks: "Have you ever had a dream that you're so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you tell the difference between the dream world, and the real world?"

Open Your Eyes is essentially about our dreams, and the tricks that our subconscious plays on us. While the film is clever and psychological, it is not as fun or stylish as The Matrix and eXistenZ. Open Your Eyes is definitely worthy of an audience, as long as they're not expecting the flash of the others. I'm sure I would have enjoyed this film more had I seen it earlier, though.

Regardless, Alejandro Amenabar is a smashing new talent, and this film was a hit in it's native Spain. Penelope Cruz, who made her American debut in last year's embarrasing The Hi-Lo Country, shows depth as well as beauty, and hopefully her appeal will cross over to America. Open Your Eyes is an incredible movie, and if this is not one of the new sci/fi genre's best, then the genre's gonna thrive for a long while. Once again, congrats to Artisan Films, quickly becoming one of best distributors in film today.

a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://www.angelfire.com/mo/film watch me on TBS' "Dinner And A Movie" May 21, 8:05pm EST

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