Wakey Wakey

***

Reviewed by: Jennie Kermode

Wakey Wakey
"Mary Dauterman's gutsy little short packs a lot of story into just four minutes.." | Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

Do you ever have those dreams in which you believe you've woken up and you go through a prolonged series of actions before things eventually become surreal enough for you to realise what's happening - only for you to try and wake up out of the dream and go through the whole process again? Some relationships are like that.

Alex (Rachel Sennott) and Elliot (Tim Platt) are supposed to be going on holiday. Perhaps it's anxiety about the packing and getting everything done in time that's interfering with her sleep. What's clear is that she doesn't feel she can rely on him, and as the story develops, through wave after wave of dream, we get the feeling that their relationship might be considerably more troubled than that. When will she wake up to what's wrong? And what does her altered perspective mean for him?

Copy picture

Drenched in the kind of surreal comic imagery that finds its natural home in dreams, Mary Dauterman's gutsy little short packs a lot of story into just four minutes. The objects and situations we see inform us about Alex's experiences and expectations. Her certainty that she's about to go on a journey complicates the fact that she's undertaking a different sort of journey as we watch. Much of the holiday imagery is positive, playful, but watching the waves splash by is just one step away from sinking under them.

With successful screenings at Fantasia and Fantastic Fest under its belt, Wakey Wakey is doing very well for a first filmmaking venture, and Dauterman's inventiveness seems likely to keep her in the spotlight.

Reviewed on: 26 Sep 2019
Share this with others on...
Wakey Wakey packshot
A nightmare anti-love story featuring blood and guts, the deep blue sea, tooth decay, and scary boyfriends.

Director: Mary Dauterman

Writer: Mary Dauterman

Starring: Tim Platt, Rachel Sennott

Year: 2019

Runtime: 4 minutes

Country: US


Search database:



DJDT

Versions

Time

Settings from settings.local

Headers

Request

SQL queries from 1 connection

Templates (9 rendered)

Cache calls from 2 backends

Signals