not as good as all the hype

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film Abre Los Ojos or 'Open your ears' (1997) was a huge success in Spain and was distributed worldwide . This suspenseful movie starts when the protagonist appears moving by an empty Madrid's Gran Vía, without cars or people . It concerns about a very handsome young named Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) , as he meets the beautiful and sexy Sofia (Penelope Cruz), currently dating Pelayo (Fele Martinez) , but they are immediately attracted to each other finds the love of his life , but a girl (Najwa Nimri) is completely obsessed with him . He then suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured .The motion picture displays genuine chills , suspense, mystery and dark atmosphere with a twisted finale . Packs excellent creation of tension , thriller , emotions and brief violence . The film's title translates to "open your eyes," which is a repeated motif . It's an exciting , bizarre film ; skillfully proceeded by Alejandro Amenabar and turns out to one of the most unusual Spaniard suspense movie ever made and certainly one of the most unsettling . Plenty of twists and turns , the strange images deliver the excitement united a thrilling score by the same Alejandro Amenabar , including some wonderful songs such as the song playing at the nightclub when César first arrives is "Rising Son" by Massive Attack, in which the phrase "dream on" is frequently repeated . Furthermore , Alejandro also wrote , along with Mateo Gil, the interesting plot , embarking into the phantasmagorical, psychological or even quasi-surrealist story . In fact , Alejandro Amenábar imagined the script after having horrible nightmares while ill with the flu. It includes director Cameo , as Alejandro Amenábar appears with other two people in the bathroom of the disco, when César goes there . Intelligent edition, special use of luxurious sets by Wofgang Burmann and slick utilization of shock images make this one, a magnificent film . Abre Los Ojos (1997) is his "remake" of Vértigo (1958), by Hitchcock. In fact, when the character of Sofia appears after hitting Cesar with a jar, it's the same shot of Kim Novak in Vertigo when she appears from the bathroom in the hotel - with green lights . Colorful and glowing cinematography by Hans Burmann which heightens the suspense . It was remade in Hollywood by Cameron Crowe as Vanilla Sky (2001), starring Tom Cruise , Cameron Diaz , Kurt Russell and Penélope Cruz also stars in Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe's remake of this film, playing the same character, Sofia. The picture was well directed by Amenabar in his second movie, after he achieved various hits . Since his perhaps best-known early short-film "Himenóptero" in 1992, in which he directed , produced, acted and wrote the script and the music, Amenábar progressed and reached his first commercial success in 1996 with "Thesis", Amenabar was 23 when he directed this his feature debut , a film which undoubtedly showed that a major new director had arrived on the scene . Later "Los Otros" (The Others) confirmed his arrival in the cinematographic world and is Amenábar's first English language film . In all his films he also writes the script and the music, as well as composing the music for other films , most notably "Butterflies tongue" (1999). He subsequently directed ¨Mar Adentro¨ with the Oscarized Javier Bardem and finally the epic/historical ¨Agora¨ with Rachel Weisz . Rating : Better than average.

Open Your Eyes is a Spanish film directed by Alejandro Amenábar which was written by himself and Mateo Gil. It stars Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Fele Martínez and Najwa Nimri.The movie's intersecting planes of dream and reality is one characteristic it has that will astonish the viewer and would probably find it interesting.I even consider this a superior film compared to its Hollywood remake,Vanilla Sky.The line between dreams and reality become increasingly blurred after a womanizing playboy is nearly killed by a jilted lover.It would seem as if Cesar (Noriega) has it all. Handsome, charming, and with money to burn, he can get any girl he wants, and usually does so on a nightly basis. Following a birthday party in which he chats up Sofia (Cruz), the date of his best friend Pelayo, Cesar is plunged headfirst into a nightmare world when jealous former lover Nuria swallows a handful of pills and sends her car careening into a cement wall with the terrified playboy as her hapless passenger. With his formerly strikingly handsome face now twisted into a hideous mass of scarred flesh, Cesar's ugly emotions are now externalized for all to see. Pining for a plastic- surgery miracle to return him to his former glory so that he can seek out Sofia and take a chance at real love, he is pleasantly surprised when the doctors make a breakthrough and Sofia accepts him back into her life. Although all seems perfect for the moment, the formerly soulless player finds that this is only the beginning of his increasingly disturbing journey. Why is Sofia changing appearance and turning into Nuria periodically? And why won't the police and his psychiatrist believe Cesar's desperate attempts to rationalize a world that is growing increasingly surreal? Could it have something to do with a doctor Cesar has seen on television who keeps appearing and attempting to help him out of his nightmare? Peeling away at the layers of his subconscious, Cesar begins to realize that reality is no more than a state of mind, and that in order to get his life back he may be forced to take unthinkable measures.This is a deeply complex psychological mind warp of a film that begs to be viewed more than once to get full understanding of the movie.At the same time,it takes more than one viewing to realize that it is a is thought provoking feature and allows us to contemplate to live the dream not the nightmare.Aside from that,it is a film that really does challenge its audience's expectations and suppositions at every turn.The performances of this movie were simply outstanding especially Eduardo Noriega,who definitely allows the viewer to care for his character.While Penelope Cruz delivers in her role as Sofia.And finally,this is one visually stunning product is no less absorbing and haunting, not to mention surprisingly moving.In short,it is a masterpiece.It is a must-see for people who love great movies.

One of the best movies that I have ever seen in my life even though I have watched lots of movies. This movie touches your heart so much that you get yourself involved with each and every character.Acting is superb especially from Penelope Cruz and Eduardo Noriega.The soundtrack and the background score of the movie is so excellent that it can bring tears from your eyes. There are so many scenes that are memorable especially the picture drawing scene between Penelope Cruz and Eduardo Noriega. Penelope Cruz looks so pretty and especially her smile and the way she smiles and the way she laughs is so beautiful. I think no other actress in the world does have that kind of innocent smile. She looks so beautiful in this movie. Guys like me will easily fall for her, no doubt.The twist at the end of the movie is so brilliant with its background score is superb that I have to consider this one of the best endings in the cinematic history.Direction is brilliant, screenplay is top-notch, cinematography is excellent.One surprising thing is that it does not have any heavy set-pieces, lacks action that is only at the lobby of the Life extension building, a car crash and a few gunshots even though its a science fiction movie.Kudos to Alejandro Amenábar for having directing such a beautiful movie movie.

Actually, as I saw the American remake yesterday with director's commentary it was strange to watch this original vision now all the more that it's in Spanish, it stars also Penelope and the story is really particular.The remake is very close to this movie: the scenes are totally alike: The remake adds a lot of clues that appears a bit useless (TV screens, the best friend meeting Julie/Nuria) and its cast except Penelope is maybe less appealing: Tom Cruise isn't a better Cesar (except maybe his idea to mock his cry in front of the mirror) and Russell is certainly less moving than the Spanish Psy. The real differences appear in budget with the remake having more expensive wardrobe, music and special effects.But the emotional impact doesn't really follow the money raise because this Spanish original is more like us, the audience, thus we can relate to what happens. As for Penelope, i find her more shy here than in the remake: either it's her experience in movies, either American and Spanish have a different feeling about relationship.But as it's about a triangle, an impossible and ideal love portrayed by a smiling and delicate brunette, I feel really touched by those movies.PKD would agree.