Everything Is Exactly As Tech Support Describes It
Because of the way it's designed, Vanilla Sky can be interpreted in all manner of ways. Built like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream, Crowe has stated, "As deep as you want to go with it, my desire was for the movie to meet you there." So Vanilla Sky can be the diary of a madman, a downtrodden author's novel, a crash victim's coma dream, a playboy's twisting nightmare. Less fun but certainly no less plausible is the theory that Vanilla Sky is to be taken entirely as described by Noah Taylor's 'Tech Support'. That would be the suggestion that David committed suicide after his life fell apart, but was put into cryogenic stasis and left to live in his dreams - beginning at the first 'vanilla sky' sequence - for 150 years, a period ending with Tech Support offering to bring David back to life and back into the world. This scenario, then, would see David waking at the end of the film into a future (the time passed would make it 2151) he has never seen. Crowe chooses his final shot carefully, showing only David's eyes and nothing else - what if the world those eyes are about to see is one that's completely divorced from the familiar one David has been dreaming about for the past century-and-a-half? This, of course, would fundamentally shift Vanilla Sky's generic gears, taking it from a fantasy/mystery straight into science fiction territory. It's just one of the many genre territories you could end up in, all depending on the road you believe this shifty puzzle is taking you down. What's your take on Vanilla Sky? Let us know in the comments below.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
