Sleepwalking

Despite the mostly negative reviews I've read about 'Sleepwalking', I wanted to see if Annasophia Robb really did live up to what the critics have been raving the past couple months. And she does, in a huge way. With a natural presence and believable acting, Annasophia displays one of the best performances I've seen from a child actor/actress. While she did a great job in BTT and Have Dreams, she doesn't show any signs of the occasional stiff acting that she had in her previous films. Playing the part of the abandoned and emotionally troubled Tara is a very complex process that not many young actors can endure, yet Annasophia portrays her every emotion smoothly. Her chemistry with Stahl's character was convincing and heartfelt. At first I was a little bit on the skeptical side on whether or not her performance was Oscar-worthy; but after watching this movie, I immediately brushed said thoughts aside.

That said, this movie is James's (Nick Stahl) story, and he delivers. His performance really brought out the raw emotion that most of the film lacked. At certain scenes one could just sense the extreme pain and sorrow that James is going through as he grows more fond of his niece, only to see her get taken away, that and other aspects of his character makes a nice buildup to his climactic transformation near the end. Charlize Theron, though only present in a handful of scenes in the film, takes full advantage of them and helps create a truly believable troubled American family. Dennis Hopper is, well...Dennis Hopper. He can pull off playing any crazed and sadistic bastard in a snap and succeeds. Despite his character being as one dimensional as one can get, Hopper does a pretty good job making the film more morbid than it already is.

Positives aside, here is where the film gets it's real flaws: the story. Besides extremely powerful performances by the leads, Sleepwalking's story suffers from it's overtly dark tone and predictability. Yes, it's supposed to be a morbid take on abandonment and abuse, but unfortunately that's all there is. The characters stumble from one unlucky bump in the road to another without any real relief for them. Besides the budding almost brother-sister type relationship that James and Tara develops, it doesn't really stop the film from becoming increasingly bleak. And quite honestly, as much as I tried to defend it, I didn't understand James's notion to return to his abusive and bitter father's farm. Once he mentions going there in the film, especially with all the comments that he heard from Tara, predicting hell in Satan's frozen ranch wasn't very far-fetched. I enjoy films that are open to interpretation and don't give out easy answers. However, Sleepwalking's ending hardly even tries to put some sort of resolution. It's an all-throughout morbid storyline that DESERVED a true resolution, sadly it barely had one.

I enjoyed Sleepwalking. I loved the characters and the performances (Especially Robb and Stahl), but like the ratings that you've read throughout the web, it was just barely enough to carry the weight of a bland and predictable story.

"Sleepwalking" starts off a bit like "Frozen River," focused on a single mother struggling to make ends meet in rural America (though it was actually filmed in Saskatchewan). But the movie quickly veers off in another direction, shifting that focus onto her 13-year-old daughter, Tara, and her younger brother, James (the girl's uncle), who are suddenly forced to rely on one another for comfort and support when Joleen temporarily bows out of the picture.

When her boyfriend is arrested for growing marijuana, Jolene (Carlize Theron) and Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) are forced to move in with James (Nick Stahl), a soft-spoken, good-hearted fellow in his 20s who is two months behind in his rent and who barely scrapes by on what he makes at his low-paying construction job. Soon, Joleen has split the scene, James has lost his job, and social services has taken Tara to live in a foster-care facility. So James and Tara decide to head out onto the open highway, stopping off at roadside diners and motels, and staying one step ahead of the authorities who are in pursuit of them.

"Sleepwalking" is one of those gritty, slice-of-life dramas that sympathetically and accurately depicts what life is like for the working poor. It is rife with authentic details and rich in small town atmosphere. Director William Mahr and cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia really know how to extract the essence of a locale for mood and effect, making the bleak landscape and stark setting integral elements in the drama - an effect greatly enhanced by Christopher Young's rich and evocative acoustic-flavored score. Superb, naturalistic performances by the three lead actors make us truly care about the people they are portraying and the things that are happening to them.

"Sleepwalking" is not without its flaws, however. For one thing, the movie undercuts some of its carefully crafted verisimilitude with its casting of "name" actors in a few of the key secondary roles - primarily, Woody Harrelson as James' friend and work buddy, and an over-reaching Dennis Hopper as Joleen and James' abusive dad. These parts would have been more effective had they been played by less-familiar actors (though I do realize that, without such star power attached to the project, a movie like "Sleepwalking" might never have gotten made in the first place). More seriously, the otherwise excellent screenplay by Zac Stanford falls apart a bit in the final third, resorting to stereotyping and hokey melodrama when it most needs to stay true to its characters and their situations.

Still, despite the patness, "Sleepwalking" is a quietly powerful, richly atmospheric tale of a group of troubled but essentially decent people struggling, despite their all-too-human weaknesses, to make their way in the world.

I watched this movie today and I must say that it was absolutely amazing. It is drama by genre but most of the time this kind of movies are much better than we thought. With four amazing main actors this movie couldn't fail although only two actors, AnnaSophia Robb and Nick Stahl are keeping this movie so good. After Tara's (Robb) mother Joleen (Charlize Theron) leave's her with her uncle James (Nick Stahl) their lives are start to fall down. James gets fired from his job and social service takes Tara to foster home. One day James comes to visit Tara and by her request they leave the city by car in unknown direction. On they trip they would get more closer, and some events will open their eyes from a long dream. Nick Stahl is great as James. His character's childhood was abuse by his father as his sister Joleen. Charlize Theron is solid, but real star of this movie is AnnaSophia Robb. She has only 14 years old and already playing complex roles like this one. She is going in the right way by now.

The director could not have picked better actors for this film than Nick Stahl and AnnaSophia Robb. Every movie that I have seen AnnaSophia act in, she has taken her role seriously, with the fullest extent of her acting ability, and to heart.

Nick plays the uncle, James, and AnnaSophia plays James' niece, Tara. The two are locked in position with their own dark pasts (Tara dealing with her mother's sudden disappearance after her mother had been unable to look after her due to her lifestyle, and James being the dark memories of his abusive father with him and his sister Joleen *Tara's Mother*).

Now, I am not going to get into detail on everything the movie is about, because I honestly think you really should see the film if you haven't already, and I am not going to spoil it. However, the movie takes you to the dark place (Dennis Hopper plays a dark, twisted, and excellent Role as the Father of James and Joleen). It takes you through the emotions of hitting rock bottom, a child's world upside down in the eyes of a 12 year old, a mother's struggle to hold on, and with no other alternative, a return trip to the farm of evil.

10/10 P.S.: When about to watch this film, remember the words of AnnaSophia Robb herself - "You've got to keep your mind wide open."

New director William Maher and writer Zac Stanford previously worked together in THE CHUMSCRUBBER and the similarity of vision is apparent in SLEEPWALKING: both films deal with the empty shells of hollow people aimlessly seeking connection in a world that has become foreign territory. It is a dark, cold, brooding film that somehow manages to maintain our attention with the hope that the gloomy tunnel though which the characters are passing will have a semblance of light at the end.

Joleen (Charlize Theron) is the inadequate, loving-but-inconstant mother of twelve-year-old Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) whose reckless an aimless life leads to constant moving and lack of roots. Evicted form her latest residence Joleen and Tara move in with Joleen's younger brother James (Nick Stahl) whose similarly aimless life is defined by a trashy apartment and a mindless construction work job. Tara is sullen, disappointed in her mother's erratic, irresponsible behavior, and when Joleen once again takes off 'on a new idea', Tara is left with James - trying to figure out an existence for survival. James loses his job due to absenteeism, takes up residence in the filthy basement of his nerdy co-worker Randall (Woody Harelson), while the town cop (Mathew St. Patrick) reluctantly places Tara in a foster home to await the return of Joleen. Tara prefers life with James to her 'imprisonment' and the two take off on a road trip, seeking some degree of happiness and love in a world gone berserk. When James runs out of money, he heads to his old home farm for refuge, an unlikely endpoint as his and Joleen's childhood was warped by their abusive farmer father (Dennis Hopper). The return to the farm, James hopes, will provide connection to Tara's past, but instead it results in a tragedy that ultimately moves Tara back to her 'home' and to Joleen, while James drives off into the unknown future, finally awakened from his sleepwalking through life.

The film is as bleak as the flat and snowy countryside (the film was shot in Canada's winter) and that countryside reflects the desperate loneliness of the characters. The small cast offers solid portrayals with the work of Nick Stahl being the standout performance. Theron, Robb, Harelson, Hopper, and Deborra-Lee Furness (in a small but poignant role) make the best of a shaky script. This is a mood piece and can become depressing if the viewer expects resolution of the sad and empty lives the characters lead. But there is a haunting quality to the look of the film that stays with the viewer, especially in the mystery in the eyes of the character James as he drives into an unknown but awakened future. Grady Harp