Sleepwalking (2008)

Nick Stahl gives another outstanding performance in William Maher's engrossing SLEEPWALKING. Stahl, who has sizzled in the film IN THE BEDROOM and the HBO series CARNIVALE, plays James, a troubled young man who can't get his life in order. When his equally troubled older sister, Joleen (Charlize Theron), takes off on one of her many extended leaves--usually with some trucker who eventually casts her aside--James is left to take care of his 12-year-old niece, Tara (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA's AnnaSophia Robb). But struggling to make money and keep his apartment, James soon finds himself sleeping on the floor of the bas...
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ement of his best friend's (Woody Harrelson) house, with Tara taken away by social services. Suddenly determined not to ruin Tara's life just because his and Joleen's lives have been disasters, James busts her out of foster care and heads out on a road trip, pretending to be Tara's father as he makes his way back to the farm where all his and Joleen's problems started, under the dictatorial thumb of his father (Dennis Hopper). Screenwriter Zac Stanford (THE CHUMSCRUBBER) has created a wildly dysfunctional family made up of fascinating characters who are seemingly trapped, with no way out. Even the local cop (SIX FEET UNDER's Matthew St. Patrick) wants to help them but is continually thwarted by their inability to do the right thing or make the best decision for themselves and those around them. Shot in less than a month on a low budget, SLEEPWALKING is the directorial debut of visual-effects veteran William Maher, who has worked on several Tim Burton films, but Maher doesn't go crazy with special effects here; instead, his first film is a tender, poignant character study featuring outstanding acting and beautiful locations.
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Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper, Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, and Deborra-Lee Furness star in a family drama detailing the efforts made by an 12-year-old girl to come to terms with her mother's abandonment. Tara's (Robb) mother, Joleen (Theron), just can't seem to get her life together. Her boyfriend has recently been arrested for growing marijuana, and rather than attempting to create a stable living environment for her daughter, Joleen instead places Tara in foster care before vanishing without a trace. Joleen's brother, James (Stahl), isn't exactly the picture of equilibrium, yet he does feel s...
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ympathetic toward his niece and obligated to help her though such difficult times. After breaking Tara out of foster care, James and his newly freed niece set out on the open road together. Destination: nowhere. But every road has an end, and before long James and Tara find themselves at James and Joleen's father's farm. James has always avoided thinking about his violent childhood, though he realizes that in order to break the vicious cycle of dysfunction that the family has fallen into he must finally confront the demons of his past. Now, as Tara begins to understand why her missing mother has lived such a tumultuous life, James prepares for the confrontation that could bring his family closer together than ever before, if it doesn't destroy them first. William Maher, who served as visual effects supervisor for the 2005 Sundance film The Chumscrubber, makes his feature directorial debut with a film based on an original screenplay by that film's scribe, Zac Stanford.
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Forced out of her home after her boyfriend is arrested, Joleen Reedy needs a place to stay with her 11-year-old daughter, Tara. She turns for help to her younger brother James--a simple and overly trusting man who doesn't hesitate to welcome them into his modest rental apartment. Almost as soon as she moves in, however, Joleen hits the road with another man. Utterly ill-equipped to be the sole guardian of an adolescent girl, James does his best to make his distraught niece happy. But, before long, things spin out of control: he loses his road crew job and Tara is put into foster care. Additionally, old wounds fro...
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m his emotionally abusive and sometimes violent father begin to reopen as James is forced to re-examine his life. That's when James makes a fateful decision that will bring his life full circle and force him to face his demons. He takes off with Tara and the pair assumes new identities as father and daughter. What starts out as a ploy to evade authorities takes on a deeper significance as James strives to become the dad Tara never had and, for the first time, finds a true purpose in life.
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Sleepwalking vertelt het verhaal van een 11-jarig meisje dat worstelt met het feit dat haar moeder haar verlaten heeft. Ze probeert, door veel met haar oom om te gaan, dit te verwerken. Alleen worstelt haar oom met zijn eigen onrustige leven.

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