The Other Side of Sleep
Director: Rebecca Daly
Actors: Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Olwen Fouere
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Drama
Running time: 15A 93 minutes
A ponderous, atmospheric but uneventful drama that centres on the aftermath of a murder in a small middle Ireland town, The Other Side of Sleep certainly has elements of '90s TV show Twin Peaks, but it lacks the eccentricities that made that cult show entertaining. On its own merits it's a noble failure - but a failure, nonetheless.
Antonia Campbell-Hughes is Arlene, a young girl who has always had trouble with sleepwalking. At the beginning of the movie she wakes up next to the body of a girl in the woods, with no idea how she got there, nor memory of what happened. As the police investigate the murder, Arlene finds herself drawn closer to the girl's family, befriending her sister in particular. We soon learn that Arlene has a tragic past of her own.
Destined to split critics right down the middle, this one just found The Other Side of Sleep lethargically paced and a bit too difficult to follow to really engage with. I think the average audience member may lose patience with the lack of forward progress, while more patient viewers will still have issues with the somewhat ambiguous conclusion. What it does do well is atmosphere; first-time director Daly really has a gift for ambience, while the impressive cinematography captures the mood of small town Ireland wonderfully.
Lead actress Hughes also has to do a lot with very little. She has scant dialogue and her character is very much an introvert, so ponderous moments are plentiful - but the Ulster actress manages to pull them off with aplomb. Even though you're not really sure what's going on, you buy her almost perpetual dreamlike state. Supporting performances, too, are strong.
This film is just too languid and sloppy to connect, yet there's still enough here to mark Daly and Campbell-Hughes as ones to watch, nonetheless.
