Gritty Sleepwalking a raw gem of a film

Gritty Sleepwalking a raw gem of a film

by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid - SGN A&E Writer Sleepwalking Now playing I've always said you can pretty much tell when a person was born by their name. There was the whole "Jennifer" year, then everyone was named "Amber" - in the black community, "Shatiqua" or some variation. Now "Tara" or "Terra" seems to be the name of the hour. They've appeared in two films, both Snow Angels and now Sleepwalking, so I'm guessing we officially have a trend on our hands. All of that notwithstanding, Sleepwalking is a film that stands on its own and in no way imitates anything else about any other film I've seen of late. This moody, at times gritty and disturbing look at a brother, sister and niece who are barely hanging on to the very basics in their lives dug at my guts and hung on until the very end. Charlize Theron is the sister who makes bad love connections with sleazy men, and Nick Stahl is the dutiful brother who takes over parenting her child when one of these connections ends up with her leaving town. She has a plan, but daughter Tara (Anna Sophia Robb, the most refreshing newcomer to hit the screen in quite a while) knows this story, and is already preparing herself for the inevitable mess this will make of her already messy life. Also, she isn't sure her uncle (Nick Stahl) is up to being a fill-in parent, considering he can barely make ends meet on his roadwork job (which he seems to be constantly late for). So, after events spiral out of control and Tara is scooped up by the foster care system, Nick makes a desperate plan and takes her to the family farm, where demons from his past arise in the form of his own abusive father (a chilling Dennis Hopper). I won't give away the ending, but let's just say things go from bad to worse, there's a startling catharsis for everyone and an end that may be unsatisfying to some (it was to one very vocal person at the screening I attended several weeks ago), but just worked perfectly for me. Do see this raw gem of a film, and believe me, you too will agree Sleepwalking probably deserves at least an Oscar nod next year, if not the statue itself.