Chasing Sleep

Wouldn't this be a better world if today's talented thriller-makers knew how to end their films as well as they know how to start them and keep them going? Most of the time you'll be thinking "where has this movie been hiding all these years?", but at the end you'll almost be sorry that you invested the time to watch it in the first place. There is an undeniable mastery in the way Walker directs: first he grounds the film in reality, then he allows it to go on bizarre trips into the surreal, and all the time he moves the camera gracefully through the limited sets. Then comes the "say what?", non-explanatory ending, and it all goes to pieces. (**1/2)

I saw this movie on cable the other night and I have to say that I really just don't get it. It was slow it was boring and I really really hate it when you can't tell if what you are watching is really happening for if the character is hallucinating!!! Can someone please tell me if the wife is really alive or did she die!!!!

Jeff Daniels stars as a University Professor who wakes up early one morning alone in bed. His wife hasn't come home from work the previous day and he is of course very worried. As time passes the tension rises and one begins to suspect that the professor knows more than he tells the police - or maybe he just doesn't remember what has happened. The movie is extremely slow moving which adds to the husbands sense of despair as his world comes crashing down. This is very nicely visualized in the professors house, where big holes are opening up in the ceilings and the walls with water dripping out and creates a feeling of a man slowly drowning. It may not be an easy film to like but it appealed strongly to me and Daniels' performance is nothing short of breathtaking. I gave it an 8.

My grandpa, my brother, and I watched "Chasing Sleep" and needless to say, we are REALLY confused. Does anybody know what really happened? Did Saxxon kill his wife? Or was it her lover? Did she really die at all? Why are all the cops taking pills? What's with the finger? (The baby I actually get. ^_^ ) Why is his house so shaddy? Does anybody even know? :)

If anybody knows, feel free to email me.

Thanks.

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.