Cruise’s second collaboration with Cameron Crowe, following Jerry Maguire, came in 2001 with Vanilla Sky. Now this is a real mind-melting movie, interweaving various dream realities with real realities and interchanging characters in and out of the mind of Cruise’s protagonist character. This role is demanding in the sense that he’s carrying the whole of the movie on his back and much of it is taking place in his character’s mind, and Cruise does a terrific job of depicting a man coming completely unraveled in the wake of information that would make any person go a little nuts.
What may be most impressive about Cruise as David Aames in Vanilla Sky are the scenes where he’s wearing a mask, so we’re unable to see his face (obviously), but that’s significant because so much of the work you’d see from Cruise or most any other actors comes in the eyes, especially for someone who typically plays characters with the level of intensity that Cruise does. He steps up his body language instead, communicating the character’s anxiety and distress, through vocal signals but also with movement. It gives a movie that relies heavily on working the mind a little extra heart.
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