FANTASIA 2020: Sleep
fantasiaThe mystery box style of storytelling has historically worked well with the horror genre and is the technique Michael Venus uses in his directorial debut Sleep, which is streaming as part of the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival. Following a young woman named Mona (Gro Swantje Kohlhof) who travels to a hotel that has been haunting her mother's dreams, the film succeeds in building a captivating mystery that will keep audiences on the edge of their seat until the second half, where it drastically starts to lose focus and impact.
Easily the best part of the film is its setup, which is near genius. Not only does it naturally get the character of Mona to the location where the majority of the film takes place, but it pulls the audience in. The film offers a normal solution: the hotel is simply coming to her as she saw it in an advertisement but, also due to the nature of the film and how haunting the film sequences are, it never feels absurd to question if there is something more going on. As the film continues to move, more and more details are revealed, sucking the audience in even further, making the first half of the film feel like a breeze to get through.
The technical elements in Sleep are also a major component of why this portion of the film works so well. As mentioned, the editing of the dream sequences by editor Silke Olthoff is truly remarkable. Literally having characters fall in and out of nightmares, it gives audiences the perfect small tastes of chaos and horror that sets the tone for the rest of the film without overdoing it. The emotions and desperation of the characters are also perfectly captured by the performances. Where Gro Swantje Kohlhof will – rightfully so – get most of the attention for her layered and complex performance throughout the film, Sandra Hüller also impresses in the smaller supporting role as her mother. There is genuine emotion behind these performances, which completely sells the world the film is taking place in and the motivations of the characters.
Sadly, this captivating start is met with a substantially weaker end. Where the ending is nothing overly horrible to where the film is totally ruined, it never quite feels like it finds its point. The plot and the questions grow to such a size that it would be hard to properly pay it off without a grand conclusion, which the film simply doesn't have. Towards the middle of the film, when the tension of Mona first arriving at the hotel fades away and the reveals haven't quite started yet, the film also feels dull and wears its runtime surprisingly poorly, considering the film is already on the shorter side at just over 100 minutes.
Sleep might be a near masterclass at how to build a mystery box style story but, sadly, doesn't leave much of an impression by the end. The ending of the film feels weak and unmotivated, leading to a sadly forgettable film. For those who love the genre, the film is still worth checking out, considering how impressive the stronger elements of the film are and the competence of the conclusion, but for those already getting tired of the genre, it's probably is best to just stay away.
