Eye For Film >> Movies >> Wake Up (2005) Film Review
Wake Up
Reviewed by: Amber Wilkinson
Wes (Tom Power) has been in a fight. He heads home, bruised, for the inevitable trip to hospital where his Nan (Olga Grahame) lies gravely ill.
Director Martin Radich and writer Jonathan Lowe have packed an immense amount into just 10 minutes. The action is overlaid by tape and camcorder recordings Wes took of his Nan as he was growing up. Her fantastic Yorkshire accent and the droll scripting are what makes the film so watchable.
There can be few who haven't had these sorts of conversations with their gran, about whether another piece of cake is coming their way, or the mysteries of the past.
"What was life like during the war?" asks the young Wes.
"That's classified," Nan replies, smiling wryly through a plume of cigarette smoke.
As an exploration of the nature of love, memory and powerlessness in the face of destiny, this comes up trumps.
Reviewed on: 11 Sep 2005