Sleepwalking

“Sleepwalking,” a new film from director

Bill Maher, opens with a shot of an

empty road stretching out into the distance

through a flat, nondescript landscape.

This overused and bland image

is representative of the film as a whole.

Even heartfelt performances cannot

quite compensate for a plot that teeters

between tedium and brutality, and a trite

script that only barely leaves room for

character development.

AnnaSophia Robb (“Bridge to Terabithia”)

plays Tara, a troubled but lovable

12-year-old who grapples with being

neglected by her mother. Early in the

film, Tara’s mother, Joleen (played by

Charlize Theron, “Monster”), abandons

her for reasons that are intentionally ambiguous

but nonetheless unconvincing.

Tara’s uncle, played by Nick Stahl (“Sin

City”), must care for his niece but is illsuited

for the job.

Charlize Theron is the most recognizable

name in “Sleepwalking,” but her

role is negligible and she adds little to the

film. Although she plays a desperately

unhappy woman who has spent most of

her life running away from home, comfort,

and love, Theron never quite loses

her Hollywood glamour. This is surprising

given that she won an Academy

Award in 2003 for her transformation

into repulsive serial killer Aileen Wuornos

in “Monster.”

Thankfully, Joleen disappears quite

early in the movie, leaving Tara and

James to cope with her disappearance.

The relationship that forms between

these two characters is the film’s saving

grace. Robb brilliantly portrays Tara’s

oscillation between pre-teen awkwardness—

which is only heightened when

Joleen splits—and the confidence that

grows as she begins to feel James’ affection.

Stahl is convincing as a meek but

kind uncle whose inability to control his

own life undermines his ability to help

his niece.

Nevertheless, Robb and Stahl’s strong

performances can’t quite overcome the

platitudes in which their characters

trade. One particularly dramatic moment

is ruined when James gives Tara

a message for her mother: “Tell her this

is the first day of the rest of her life—it

wasn’t before, but now it is.”

In another memorable scene, Robb’s

appearance symbolizes too blatantly her

awkward transition from childhood to

adolescence; she dons pink glasses and

roller skates while she lights up a cigarette

and starts puffing. Obvious moments

like this detract significantly from

a film that attempts to create a subtle

narrative with its understated tone and

unhurried plot.

Although the script leaves much to be

desired, the film is beautifully shot, capturing

images of impoverished neighborhoods

and ramshackle houses almost

as well as striking footage of the wintry

fields and lakes beneath the open skies of

rural America. The film’s visual appeal

is greatest during its most brutal scenes.

Sequences of abuse contrast dramatically

with interspersed shots of farmland

sunsets, which provide some of the film’s

only warm colors.

The climax, in which James takes

Tara to her grandfather’s farm, marks the

least believable portion of the film. Tara’s

grandfather, played by Dennis Hopper

(“Easy Rider”), is flat and underdeveloped

as a character. Hopper succeeds in

portraying the cruelty that caused his

children to run away as adolescents, but

there is no explanation as to what turned

the man so bitter in the first place.

Robb and Stahl deliver touching and

believable performances, but aren’t convincing

enough to overcome the weaknesses

working against them. The disparity

between the quality of their acting

and the poorly-constructed world they

inhabit leaves the viewer torn between

sympathy and boredom. By the end of

the film, the viewer is hoping for the

return of Joleen, not out of concern for

Tara and James, but out of a desire to see

the credits roll.

—Staff writer Rachel A. Burns can be

reached at rburns@fas.harvard.edu.