SLEEPWALKING

US, 2008, 101 minutes. Colour.
Nick Stahl, Anna Sophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Deborra- Lee Furness, Mathew St Patrick, Callum Keith Rennie, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper.
Directed by Bill Maher.

Sleepwalking is a finely written and performed drama. It is very downbeat, which meant that it was not popular and receive limited release. This is a pity because it is an excellent portrait of characters, clashes, family pressures.

Nick Stahl appears as a young man, browbeaten in his childhood by his father, Dennis Hopper, forever putting him down. One day he escapes from his father’s farm with his older sister, played by Charlize Theron. He tries to get jobs, maintain an apartment, keeps in contact with his sister. She has become pregnant, the father has walked out, she leaves and marries a drug dealer played by Callum Keith Rennie. She also has a young daughter, played very well by Anna Sophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia, Soul Surfer).

The film opens with the husband being arrested, the woman and her daughter out in the streets, a policeman trying to be helpful but spurned. She moves in with her brother. Then she disappears for most of the film. The bulk of the film shows the relationship between the young man and his niece, the attempts to find her mother, his losing his job, his moving into the basement of a fellow worker (played by Woody Harrelson). There is also a sympathetic co-worker played by Deborra- Lee Furness. Ultimately, they decide to go back to his father’s farm where the father treats his son and his granddaughter in the same brutal way, leading to a violent conclusion. The ending of the film is rather open-ended – with the audience sympathetic to the young man.

This is a film to admire, think about and discuss.

1. The title, the reference to each of the central characters? James’s explanation that he had been sleepwalking through life?

2. Canada standing in for the California landscapes, winter, the snow, the farms, the towns, the building sites? The realism? The musical score?

3. The strong cast, the strong writing? The truth of the characters and situations?

4. The introduction to Joleen and Tara? Warren’s arrest? Growing pot? His going to jail? Joleen and her not being arrested? The detective giving her a chance? Her rejecting his kindness? Going to her house, getting some of her possessions, accusing the police of taking the money, her hiding it elsewhere and retrieving it? Their callous cracks at her and her behaviour?

5. Joleen and her age, the back-story of home life, her father and his brutality, beating his daughter? James and his devotion to his sister? Their leaving together? Her pregnancy, the absence of the father? Her meeting up with Warren, a home, her life? Her having to cope, promiscuous, money? The scene of bringing the man home and using the bedroom, carrying her daughter out to the settee? Her plan for the future, leaving for a month, promising to come home for Tara’s birthday? Her being absent for most of the film?

6. The introduction to James, his age, his father and the put-downs, James accepting that he was very limited, not too bright? Joleen contacting him, his explanations for not going to work, the bad back? Helping Joleen move? Their coming to his house, Tara and her sullenness? Joleen and her apology for imposing on him, urging him to stand up for himself? At work, his friendship with Randall, their talking? Danni and her concern? Tara, her angers at home, his driving her to school? Their decision to search for Joleen? His being sacked? The rent being demanded? Going to Randall’s, his wife welcoming him? Moving in with Tara? The party, drinking, Danni and her kindness? The social workers arriving, Tara being taken? Going to see her for her birthday, the gift? The drive, decision to go to his father’s farm, pretending they were father and daughter, changing names? Going to the shops, playing games and chases? The motel, the meals, his getting temporary work and some money?

7. Tara and her age, her experience with her mother, resentment of the situations, sitting and sulking, her expectations, at school, her friends? Joleen leaving? Her moods, wanting to search for her mother? Going to the institution? Leaving with James? Developing, talking with James, sharing with him?

8. The detective, his concern for Joleen, for James, for Tara?

9. Going to the father’s farm, meeting him, the past history, his being a controller, humiliating his son, the hard work on the farm, his talk, James and his labour, Tara and her hard work, resentment, her grandfather telling her off? Seeing through the deception? His brutality and the climax?

10. James, his reaction, especially to his father’s treatment of Tara, hitting him, his death? The decision to return Tara home, his phone call to the detective?

11. Joleen turning up again, talking with the detective, changed, humble, waiting?

12. James bringing Tara back, saying that she should tell Joleen that this was the first day of the rest of her life?

13. James leaving, driving away, his future?

14. Randall, at work, the dominating wife? Danni and her sympathy, James’s inability to accept it?

15. Realism, depression? Audience sympathy and empathy? Insight?