Feb 1, 2014

Wakey Wakey – 2012 – Don’t blink, you might miss something!



Director: Adrian Goodman
Art-house

First off, I think this is the first time I got a screener sent to me from Australia. Not that it really matters where the movie is from for still, its half way around the world and that is kind of cool. That’s a reminder to never ever say that the internet hasn’t got a worldwide impact – because it has! My friends over at filmbizzaro.com have a quote on the front of the cover which says that Wakey Wakey is one of the best films of the year. I’m intrigued!




It’s basically not a very easy film to follow. It’s a bit art-house and it’s certainly not a film for everyone to enjoy. It’s shot in beautiful black and white and the main characters are odd to say the least. At first I couldn’t figure out if they were sister or lovers (or both). One of them wears a helmet at all times, well almost all times. It gives a bizarre impression but also creates an interest. Why? Does this have something significant to do with the plot or is it just to make things strange? After a while it’s clear that there’s a logical explanation for it as the woman suffers from narcolepsy. It still looks very strange when she walks around with it on but it makes sense, really!




So, one of them suffers from narcolepsy, what about the other one? She is far more difficult to figure out. But it seems like she gets off on seeing her sister(?) passing out so that she can create photo shots out of the events. It’s a very odd fetish to be sure. The imagery is designed to make us more interested as the movie goes along. I for one feel an urge to figure out what the heck is going on. It’s not obvious I can tell you. The thing is that you need to pay attention to what’s happening at all times. If you blink you might miss something; some important part of the puzzle.

So we can establish that it’s a very odd movie shot in beautiful black and white. The women, the two main characters which are almost the only thing in front of the camera for the whole movie, are wearing heavy makeup and looks a bit Goth to me. I don’t know if this is a metaphor for something erotic but I guess it could be. The whole atmosphere of it is kind of arousing I think. But speaking of metaphors, these may very well be elements that aren’t really there. Some things that’s just present in the minds of the women or in one of their minds. I’m not even sure both of them exist. However, both Laura Wheelwright and Fabiana Weiner are excellent in their parts!



But that’s the fun part. I really like it when you can’t be absolutely sure on what you see; when the movie ends and you’re not certain what you saw. There are a lot of interpretation possibilities here and once the film is over you aren’t much closer to the answers than you were in the beginning.


8/10


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