YOU'RE SLEEPING NICOLE

Instead of going to Schoolies, I was asked by some friend's parents to housesit for them. I jumped at the chance. It was a taste of freedom. Not a moment felt boring or bland. It was a huge step into adulthood. So why aren’t the characters in ‘You’re Sleeping Nicole’ stepping up to the plate?

Its summer, and Nicole (Julianne Côté) has been given run of her parent’s home for the summer. She thinks she will have the run of the house until her older brother and his rock band turn up and begin to take over. Yes, this is another film about idle youth, and I feel like I am exclusively seeing films along this theme!

Interestingly, ‘You’re Sleeping Nicole’ is entirely in black and white. While it's an interesting choice providing a lot of darkness, there is something about it that just doesn’t work. Perhaps it's the film's modernity that makes the choice feel completely unjustified. The cinematography is quite slow and static. Very few shots use a moving camera, and even then it is a simple pan; shots and scenes dwell long after they feel they should, and that adds to the pacing problem faced with this sort of filmmaking.

The acting is sufficient and the actors do what they can with the material, but in the end there should have just been more - even some sort of climax or conclusion would have helped. There is a delightful whimsy in the character of the boy she babysits, whose voice has prematurely dropped and whose words are pure poetry of love. None of the characters seemed to take any responsibility for any of the events that transpired. In the end it was I who felt like I was sleeping - and the gentleman next to me certainly was!