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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Abre Los Ojos (1997)

When this film was released the plot was still fresh -- there weren’t many other movies like this one. In fact, the specific story told by this film is quite original.

It was very well received by critics and moviegoers. This was Alejandro Amenábar’s second film, the first, Thesis, which was produced the previous year, was also successful proving Amenábar’s talent. In fact, this film was so good that Tom Cruise bought adaptation rights and did a remake a couple of years later. But that Hollywood version was not nearly as good as Abre Los Ojos, even though they stuck closely to the script. They even cast Penélope Cruz (who was in the original) in her same role. But a major problem with that Hollywood remake was a distractingly poor performance by Kurt Russell, whose acting skills were just not up to the task in my opinion. You’re much better off watching Abre Los Ojos.

It helps if you speak Spanish, but if you don’t mind subtitles you should be able to follow this somewhat complex story because there’s plenty of well-written exposition.

Highly recommended.

(fair use movie poster)