Sleeping and Waking (2009)

Genre: Drama

Info: Official Website

Directed By: Joe Banno

Starring: Jeff Allin, Hope Lambert, Ray Ficca, Elizabeth Jernigan, Helen Hedman

Produced By: Jeffrey A Koeppel

Sleeping and Waking is one of those types of films that exemplifies everything that the idea of an independent film really is. That really isn’t necessarily a bad thing…or a good thing. Now going into a film such as this you really have to have an open mind of what story really is and by no means should you have ANY background in the motion picture business. Otherwise you will be gravely disappointed.

Sleeping and Waking is the exploration of life, being relationships, integrity, belief and self awareness. At least that’s my take on it. “Sullivan Daniels”, played by Jeff Allin, is an artist that  has a 2nd chance at life after an operation to save him from terminal canncer.  It is that 2nd chance that essentially removes him from his true being and what excites him about life, he become very unlikable.

Now as mentioned before, when seeing a film such as this, or any low budget independent film that is generally balanced by story alone, you REALLY have to view it with an open mind. I’ve done my best to view this with such aspect. I will get right to the point and say that these types of films I’m not a huge fan of. For many reasons which some go beyond that of the filmmaker within me.  Starting off I didn’t care for “Sully” at all, he had a very unlikable appearance and therefore it makes it harder to continue on this journey. I felt that at times it was over acted and then at points even under acted. It seemed to me that the director and the actors weren’t on the same page, as a lot of what the camera was telling us through angles, lighting and movement, wasn’t what the actors themselves were giving.  It seemed at times that it was set to stage as the actors were just ‘reading lines’ rather than performing them. It was this that the camera would make unnecessary movements or a cut would take place that would be too jarring and remove us (audience) from the moment. The dialogue could have used some work, it seemed as though there were too much gratuitous quips and comments that really tried its best at serving as the comic relief. Which really wasn’t ‘relief’ at all but more of poor attempt at pulling a scene in a direction in which it didn’t want to go.

Adding to the confusion was the score. I feel as though a films score is almost as important to what we’re seeing, it assists in the emotion in which the director is conveying throughout any given scene. There was a time early on in the film that I thought that the composer actually lifted a piece that was in the original “Nightmare on Elm Street”. It was off by just a few notes.  That in itself was enough to take me out of the moment and the filmmakers ‘lost me’ as an audience member. Sadly to say this was a painful 90 minutes, or 75 minutes as I found myself dozing off for a quarter hour.

I believe that this story has potential, maybe in written form or as a play, just not a motion picture.

1.5 Knocks out of 5