Girl Asleep

2015 "Fifteen is going to turn a corner. It has to."
6.1| 1h17m| NR| en
Details

The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can't bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with her only friend Elliott, until her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday party and she's flung into a parallel place; a world that's weirdly erotic, a little bit violent and thoroughly ludicrous - only there can she find herself.

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Also starring Harrison Feldman

Also starring Amber McMahon

Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
backwardsiris Girl Asleep is a imaginative take on the wild ride that is adolescence. This tale is told from the perspective of Greta, an awkward Australian teen who moves to a new house & school on the precipice of her 15th birthday. Having moved to a new city around the same time in my life, I definitely identified with Greta's plight--the difficulties of making new friends in a place where it seems everyone knows each other, all while dealing with hormones, mean girls & overbearing parents. The family dynamics between Greta, her kooky parents (a dad who loves short-shorts & potty humor, a mom who matches her outfits to the meals she makes & works out on a stationary bike in wedge heels) and a surly, world-wise older sister, make for plenty of hilarious moments. Originally a stage play, written by Matthew Whittet (who also adapted the screenplay & plays Greta's father), this film takes place in the 1970s, with a groovy soundtrack to match (including SYLVESTER!). The color palette is eye-catching, and found somewhere in the center of a venn diagram joining Napoleon Dynamite & any Wes Anderson flick. The subtitles for the passing of time (& even the opening title) are cleverly interwoven into the scenes--appearing on a basketball or the growth chart on a bedroom door. I just realized that if I sat here & told you all the fun, quirky details in this movie, we could be here for hours. . . so I will move on from that. For the first 45 minutes of this movie, non-stop laughter filled the theater, at times making it hard to hear the dialog. We are all far enough removed from this age that we can easily laugh about the parts that made adolescence traumatic at the time. (To preface Chaplin &/or Keaton, "Tragedy is a close-up. Comedy, a long-shot".) When her parents throw her a birthday party (without her blessing), a trio of mean girls show up with a "present" for Greta in the form of a song called "You've Got No Tits" (which I've had stuck in my head since last night). With that, Greta retreats to her room, and the dream sequence begins (hence, the title). The heroine's quest for a music box that ensues is a perfect allegory for navigating the space between childhood & womanhood. This was the first foray into film for director Rosemary Myers & I look forward to seeing more of her work on the big screen.
Reno Rangan This is a short Aussie film, kind of inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland', but originally based on the stage play of the same name. A teen comedy set in the 70s and revolved around a birthday party. So, newly moved into the town, Greta, finds hard to make friends, except a boy. Entering 15th, her family wants to throw a big birthday party inviting her new schoolmates, against her will. On the occasion, something goes wrong and the next minute, she's in a strange place with strange events and people. Her adventure begins to return home and the party she had left behind in halfway which revealed in the rest of the film.I thought it was a children's and family film, but some of the references like relating to sex was a bold move. Though nothing was serious, if you are not considering the matter to the deep. It was just like any teen film, a simple topic. Creatively enough, but not impressive enough film. Those 70s were the plus point, especially for a comedy, that timeline is always so funny.Decent performances and filmmaking, should have been improvised the screenplay. But my guess is the budget. It is a small cost film, but if they had better financing, surely they would have pulled it off so much better than this. Now it is an average coming-of-age comedy- fantasy, but worth a watch if you are not forcing yourself into it.5/10
Movie Watcher This is much more than a review. It's a Public Service Announcement: Save not only your hard earned money, but much more important your valuable time and completely and totally ignore the ridiculously absurd 7.0 IMDb rating (1 decimal point too far to the right) and any and all of the glowing ratings/reviews (shills all) given this pathetically tedious, audio-visual root canal.I get the simple and waaayyyy over-told story it's trying to tell, but the clumsy, amateurish Alice-In-Wonderland/Wizard-Of-Oz manner it uses to tell it - to include the acting, the dialog, the casting, the directing, the EVERY-THING - is so incredibly, and stupefyingly UN- entertaining that sitting through it actually rises to the level of . . . cruel and unusual PUNISHMENT!!Don't be duped. "Girl Asleep" is a "Steaming Heap!"
samuelmcgregor Napoleon dynamite meets Pans Labyrinth, not in a good way.This film was beautifully shot with a very faithful recreation of 70's Australian fashion and style down to the Eames replica couches and hotted up HQ panel van. But sadly falls flat with a distinct lack of narrative tension and confusing fantasy element which adds nothing to the film.Despite the very accurate recreation of the physical world of the 70's, much of the dialogue feels very out of place, reminiscent of new-age psychobabble of the 2010's. There are a few solid jokes all relating to aspects of the 70's we'd rather forget, but far from enough to entertain for the 90 minute run time.Do yourself a favour, go watch Napoleon Dynamite or Pans Labyrinth, and give this one a miss.