Sleepwalk

This was a slow-moving picture. Indeed, it was hard to tell whether it was moving at all, given that it didn't seem to be anywhere when it started nor anywhere when it finished. Nevertheless, I still found it interesting. As I believe that the first rule of food film is simply to be interesting, and that all other rules don't matter if that first one is kept, I give this film a good rating.

I'm having a hard time figuring out precisely what makes the film interesting. I suppose having Drea de Matteo's lovely form on screen for 2 hours is enough to accomplish that. Nevertheless, I think this film has a little more going for it than just her. I think the thing that got me was that I could identify with the characters. Their motivations and reactions appeared very real to me. They weren't particularly brilliant characters...just normal people. But they were complex, and surprising, and the way one would expect them to be, even though one could not predict how they would be: rather like real people. So kudos to the writer/director and cast. Hope you get to work some more.

This picture ran as the Independent Film Channel's "IFC's Next Wave" feature. If this represents the next wave of ANYthing (film, art, culture, intellect, society.....), the future looks grave. This is a yawner in which the people are nowhere in particular at the beginning, and nowhere in particular at the end, and pretty well avoid being anywhere in between, although there is some banal conversation. The music over the closing credits sounds like the tape is played backwards, suggesting perhaps that the film could have started at the end and played in the opposite direction, as a viable alternative.

Writer/director James Savoca's super low-budget first film "Sleepwalk" opens out with an intoxicated man named Ray, lost, but for some reason drifting along an apartment rooftop in New York. Angry at society, he shouts down air vents leading to the apartments below. Soon he gets a threatening response from a strong young woman, but with a likable charm he has, he manages to get invited into her room. Of course they fall in love, and the film progressively follows these two people who come to symbolize the American dream.

The characters are what really shine in "Sleepwalk". Ray is a man filled with mystery. We learn that he is not completely honest, but who is when they fall in love at first. This leads to discovery and character revelation. Savoca isn't so much interested in where the relationship ends up, but more in the complexities of the leads. Good for him. His story has a great setup for a good romance film, but he gracefully keeps it thought-provoking and intelligent enough to prevent it from morphing into a corny chick flick.

The performances compliment the writing well. Ivan Martin plays Ray passionately. His character isn't the most accomplished person on the planet, and in fact lays at the bottom of the barrel socially, but Martin draws in remarkable sympathy and creates a character that becomes absorbing, not annoying. The woman in the apartment (named Henrietta) is played by another underknown, Drea De Matteo. She is beautiful, but also skillful, credibly portraying a woman who is trying to find success, but remain true to herself in the process.

However, a problem with "Sleepwalk", one of those movies that are simple in form but deep in ideas, is that it has some trouble introducing scenes. Movies like these, with tiny casts and little location changes often rely on a lot of dialogue (Richard Linklater's "Tape" or James Toback's "Two Girls and a Guy" for example). This is where Savoca has trouble shifting into his ideas. The meeting is random, but the dialogue comes on too fastly, making the characters unrealistically comfortable with eachother. This is a movie that moves along on a very slow pace, but Savoca needs to ease on into his scenes.

I would recommend "Sleepwalk", because of its good performances and adroit, subtle direction. Not a whole lot happens here, but (wonderfully enough) it lies on an intellectual level most romance films don't. This is a stylish, good debut.

`Come on, God. Gimme a break, will ya?' All movies should start this way.

And from there, an affecting love story unfolds in James Savoca's Sleepwalk. Ray, played by Ivan Martin (think Judd Nelson with the charisma turned WAY up), is an upbeat, yet down-on-his-luck, night dweller who happens to cross paths with Drea de Matteo's (Adrianna in The Sopranos) Henry.

In an all-time cute-meet, Ray's rooftop plea to God is perhaps answered when Adrianna, who's working below in her studio, surprises him with a conversation through a ventilation duct. They cannot see each other, but there's an immediate attraction, as Adrianna wistfully asks if Ray's still there after a silent moment. See, she WANTS to talk to Ray. It's a small detail, but it gets you psyched that she's interested.

Henry invites Ray inside, where get-to-know-you chitchat ensues. And all this time, the camera doesn't move for the first 20 minutes. Clearly, it's a wise decision on Savoca's part, allowing the viewer to be a fly on the wall, enjoying the relationship that's developing. Only when Ray is trying to guess Henry's name does the camera track around with Martin, a decision that infuses the film with a nice burst of adrenaline. Moreover, the strength of Martin and de Matteo's performances ring true, as there's not one false or insincere moment in the film. It's a real challenge to confine a film to two characters in one room, but the trio of Savoca, Martin, and de Matteo pull it off perfectly.

It's the little moments between Ray and Henry that will keep you cheering: the aforementioned moment where they meet, a hilarious episode where they shave each other, Ray's remarks about Henry cuddling him with her feet. Of course, there's the indelible image of Ray and Henry lying on the floor where an American flag has been painted. This classic imagery, beautifully captured by George Motz, is accented by the simple detail of Ray and Henry taking each other's hand.

With touching performances and sensitive direction, Sleepwalk is the very definition what's best and what's possible in real independent filmmaking.

James Savoca is in love with his characters. This is a rare and great quality nowadays because many independent films mock or exploit and don't celebrate human beings. James Savoca does.

His male lead Ray (beautifully played by Ivan Martin) loves life. Even when he's scraping the bottom he knows how to have a good time. He falls in love with Henry (a girl), who is a fresh female character, very well captured by a male writer. She is a painter who clearly suffers from loneliness and past rejection, unable to meet an interesting guy in a sea of boring self-interested losers in NY. The way they fall for each other is touching in it's intimacy and playfulness. These are people with no other interest than each other. Savoca has a really nice almost unique way of capturing romance and would be ideally suited to tell more love stories.

Check it out.