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Sleepwalking (Film)

by Neil Murphy | December 09, 2009 15:45 | Edited December 09, 2009 15:48

The characters are unlikeable and the scenario familiar, but ultimately this affecting drama gets under your skin.

A father's legacy for his son and daughter threatens to repeat itself in Sleepwalking, an American indie that explores the ripple effect of abuse and neglect in the oft-explored milieu of America's disenfranchised ‘white trash'.

 

When troubled mother Joleen (producer Charlize Theron) tells her brother James (Nick Stahl, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Sin City, Bully) to stand up for himself, we are thrust into a strangely affectionate relationship centered by a bruised upbringing.

 

Joleen and her 12-year-old daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb; Race to Witch Mountain, Bridge to Terabithia) have just been kicked out of their home in the middle of the night by police. The always-loyal James takes them in, but is forced to take care of Tara when Joleen disappears.

 

While Tara struggles to cope with her mother's abandonment, James suddenly finds himself without a job and on the verge of eviction. When child protective services come knocking, there is nothing James can do to stop them from taking Tara.

 

‘She's a good kid,' says James, a defining scene which reveals James starting to stir from his, up until now, sleepy existence.

 

From here on in, the film takes us on a road trip back to James's childhood. Face-to-face with his destructive past, and with the possibility of Tara inheriting a similar fate, James wakes up! ‘This is the first day of the rest of your life.'

 

Sleepwalking includes a lot of close-up shots that offer us an intimate exploration of the volatile relationships between our main characters. Although the characters are difficult to relate to at first, the evolving relationship between James and Tara is interesting to watch in an otherwise familiar storyline.

 

Woody Harrelson's lightness is welcomed as James' stoner friend, as is Aussie Deborah-lee Furness' caring co-worker. Surprise surprise, Dennis Hopper portrays a convincing abusive father.