Chasing Sleep

Chasing Sleep is more of an artistic endeavour through symbolism rather than a straightforward story. The average audience would find this film pointless and boring, though if one were to be open minded to its abstract ideas, they would find a deeply disturbing and interesting exploration into a character, and the study there of. The symbolic names add to the themes: George SIMIAN - relating to the primitive actions which the character embarks in, like an ape. Ed SAXON - relating to the evolved society, as in the character resorting to much less physical action.

Statments of societal conflicts are more represented than spoonfed to the audience. Though Ed is more advanced in his projection of self, he resorts to the advancements of man (the pills) to drown his worries, due to his wife's infidelities. The surreal scenes are paramount to tuning the audience in on the character's paranoia and past actions.

The sparse dialogue is often Kubrickian, and the dark imagery is somewhat Lynchian, while the story is quite Poe-esque (it seems to borrow a bit from The Tell Tale Heart). The slow disintigration of the house represents the character's disintigration of mind, his paranoia and conscience are eating away at him, because he is not a murderer or malicious man. But it also works on different levels where as it hints at the idea that his wife was murdered in the house itself and buried inside the walls - which also represents the burying of these memories in Ed's mind. If one would pay close attention to every action in the film, one would be able to decipher the actual story unveiling in reality while the character is drenched in his surreal world.

This film is abstract, and subjective in it's intention to involve the audience more than entertain. Perhaps some character's only exist in Ed's mind. It is for the audience to decide. While a film maker has the creative freedom to project their own ideas into something, they also must give enough for the audience to use their own imagination to create what happens according to them. Chasing Sleep gives the audience the power to use (like reading a book) rather than just be lost in some spoonfeeding frenzy.

Chasing Sleep is one of the best movies I've seen lately. Its creepy, disturbing atmosphere is as good as anything David Lynch has ever done. The lighting and camerawork are beyond incredible. Very slow, well-paced, gentle on the eyes, and still disturbing and powerful. The acting is subtle and very convincing. I wish Jeff Daniels would get more roles like this one. He's a great actor. The other actors in this movie are good, too. The script is fascinating and definitely makes you think, without using any tired plot devices and clichés.

One thing that I particularly liked about the movie is that it never gets boring, not even for a second. This is quite rare, especially in a movie that is so slow.

10/10

This is a great example of a movie that doesn't conform to Hollywood conventions. It is essentially about a man who awakes to realise his wife hasn't come home from work the day before, and what happens to him during the day while he waits for the police. The movie never leaves the man's house, apart from a very short scene in a hospital, and contains no soundtrack. By doing this it creates more tension than if it had a typical Hollywood soundtrack, made up of the usual scary music and screeching sounds. Also as the house begins to fall apart, it becomes more and more claustrophobic. The fact that the storyline is fluid and ambiguous could infuriate or bore some people, however it is chilling without resulting to blood or gore, and never even gives any real answers. Though nowhere near as good, it resembles a David Lynch movie, in that it challenges conventions of plot, and remains ambiguous throughout. Don't watch for any out and out shocks, but it is a movie that will grow on you, and one that you'll still be thinking about later.

This is a pretty good thriller. Better than I expected. However, ahem... you can't help but see the director's influences... I mean, David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (the punch in the face waking the protagonist from his daze, the way he vanishes into dark hallways, and many more details...), Christopher Nolan's "Following"(not for the structure of the story but more for the direction, dialogues, etc.) and occasionally Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (especially the bathtub creature episode).

Despite the gathering of borrowed imagery, this film still develops an obvious personal style and a precise direction. All in all, a very good first film owing also a lot to Jeff Daniels's performance. Hopefully, the next one will be less obviously influenced.

I was astonished. It has been a really long time since I've seen a movie that good. Everything here works like magic. I mean, the screenplay, the actors, the moods, the dialogues and most of all, the cinematography are all astonishing. This is a REAL movie and I really can't understand why my friend up above (or under) me gave it a poor review. This is the kind of cinema that reconciles me with Americain films. I've always loved Hollywood, but they have gone too far. This one is different. No big budget, no big Hollywood machine, just plain and simple movie making, and it works. Chasing Sleep is a really good movie, don't pass on the opportunity to see it. I don't think everyone will enjoy it, it's not an action movie or a comedy, but please, but open minded. This one is worth the 90 minutes your ass is on the couch!