Open Your Eyes (1997)

Spain's Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos), the 1997 original that Vanilla Sky later remade. Alejandro Amenábar wrote it with Mateo Gil and directed it; Eduardo Noriega plays César, a young man who seems to have everything until a car accident scars his face, after which dreams, memories and something stranger start bleeding into one another. Penélope Cruz plays Sofía, the role she went on to repeat in the 2001 Hollywood version. If you have only seen the remake, this is the one to watch. It is leaner, less interested in pop-culture gloss and sharper on the question of whether a perfect life can be bought, which felt very 1997 and has only grown more pointed since.