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 <a href= " mailto : akiva@excite . com " >akiva@excite . com</a> <a href= " http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film " >http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film</a> watch me on tbs' " dinner and a movie " may 21 , 8 : 05pm est <hr>get your free , private email at <a href= " http : //mail . excite . com/ " >http : //mail . excite . com/</a> 
