Not quite enough new here to make this film a hit, but enough of Theron, Hopper and Harrelson to make the film worth watching
Bill Maher tries to come up with a zinger but only partially succeeds with this low budget indie special on finding oneself. The hope for success is the performance of Charlize Theron reprising her Oscar winning performance in “Monster” as Joleen, a victim of child abuse grown into a child in an adult’s body. In fact, her brother James (Nick Stahl) is in the same boat. Only he takes action, at which time he and Joleen’s child Tara hit the road in a journey that will take James farther than he imagined.
Their travels take them through undistinguishable, semi-barren landscape of the northern Montana / Canadian plains variety. Big sky country where sometimes you wish there weren’t so much sky. Rumbling trains make the characters seem too small to survive. The odds are stacked against them from the start.
This is Maher’s debut film as a director, his previous credits including only second unit director for “The Chumscrubber” in 2005. Maher teamed up with the screenwriter from “Chumscrubber,” Zac Stanford, to make this one on their own. Nick Stahl (“Terminator 3 and “Sin City”) does most of the heavy lifting in this film, as Theron is in mainly in the beginning. Making her entrance, she immediately leaves Tara with James and exits the film.
Adolescent Tara is played with gusto by young AnnaSophia Robb (Violet in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”). Tara is a child with plenty of attitude, as one would expect of a teenager brought up by irresponsible parents. She more or less had to BE the parents. The interesting play is between Tara, old for her age, and James, an adult that is fixated in his childhood by the trauma of a childhood of abuse.
This takes us to papa Reedy, a Utah rancher dad nobody could love, played in a wonderfully hateful performance by Dennis Hopper. This is the crux of the film, the father than gets what he deserves, after all these years. But it is too predictable and Hopper is, well, just too good in his role. Nobody this psycho could live for long if he behaved towards any member of the general public the way he behaves with his children.
If this is screenwriter Stanford’s problem, it is definitely not Hopper’s. He lands in the role with both feet and does a great job. But the events that unfold from that point on are too predictable the film plays out like something we have seen too many times before. There is no twist to distinguish it.
Charlize Theron Oscar was also nominated for an Oscar for her work in “North Country,” opposite Woody Harrelson, and he joins her in this film. Unfortunately his performance, like that of Theron, is brief and not overly significant with regard to the outcome of the film. But what there is of Harrelson is first rate. He is fun from start to finish as a minimum wage landscaping laborer working in a job that most illegal aliens wouldn’t take.
“Sleepwalking” is a very independent and very low budget film and is commendable for that. It verges on the excessive seediness of the recent “Badlands,” what with the Alberta shooting and all. But this film keeps the ball rolling with all the trains trucking through the background, whereas “Badlands” took the same shots over and over with terrible results.
The diverse cinematography also helps, the light, shadows, with the shots through windows and doors and reflected in mirrors. The actors make the film, with Theron, Hopper and Harrelson leading the pack. Although they don’t put in a lot of time, they put in enough.
The ending ties up one story but leaves two more just beginning, a realistic and thought provoking way to finish such a film. But it remains to be seen if there is enough new material here to make this film a must see for movie-goers.
Release: March 14, 2008 
USA
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