(Canada, 90 min.)
Dir. Andrew Cividino, Writ. Andrew Cividino, Aaron Yeger, Blain Watters
Starring: Jackson
Martin, Nick Serino, Reece Moffett, Katelyn McKerracher, David Disher
Programme: Discovery (North American Premiere)
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| Photo courtesy of TIFF. |
Sleeping Giant
comes home to Canada after a booming premiere at Cannes earlier this year. Director/co-writer
Andrew Cividino makes his feature debut with Sleeping Giant and, much like he did with his acclaimed short film of the same name at last year’s festival, the director hits Toronto as one of
the more notable up-and-comers on the contemporary Canadian film scene and
international indie circuit alike. Sleeping
Giant is a great feature debut: tall, robust, and wise.
Fans of the short will find ample rewards in this expansion of the fateful summer story centered on three teenage boys, cottager Adam (Jackson Martin) and locals Riley (Reece Moffett) and Nate (Nick Serrino). (Moffett and Serrino both reprise their roles from the short while Martin is new to the Sleeping Giant family.) Adam comes from a very different walk of life than his friends do, as Riley becomes especially intrigued by Adam’s affluent parents who speak to kids like they’re adults. A shot of two forks at Riley’s place setting, rather than the usual one he has at his grandmother’s table, astutely creates a fish-out-of-water tale for both boys. Riley is more sociable and mature than either Adam or Nathan (the wildest of the three) is, and he becomes a silent leader as the boys bond by chucking rocks, fooling around, stealing beer, and checking out girls.
Anyone who’s ever relished a summer at the cottage during
one’s adolescence will immediately recognize and appreciate the authenticity of
Sleeping Giant’s singular portrait of
summer life. Cividino’s unique style—something akin to observational
filmmaking, but more involved and burning—injects the viewer right into the
lives of these three boys as they come of age in the rugged outdoors. Cinematographer
James Klopko also deserves major kudos for shooting the film like an omniscient
friend privy to all they boys’ shenanigans, as both the scope and intimacy of
the visual plain is awesome. Sleeping
Giant captures the malaise of cottage life with scenes of the boys making
mischief simply to kill time, such as using the carcass of a seagull for fun.
Similarly, the film harness the seeming limitlessness one feels when confronted
with the expansive panorama of the water, rocks, and trees.
Central to this power is the awesome view the boys take in
from Todd’s Cliff. Todd’s Cliff, a pivotal setting for both the short film and
feature film, takes its name from the one boy who was brave enough to jump from
its massive height. Both versions of Sleeping
Giant begin with the lo-res VHS image of Todd jumping boldly off the cliff,
screaming and laughing like the king of the jungle, and in each film, the boys
find a romanticized notion of masculinity as they idolize Todd’s bravery to
make the one leap they’re too afraid to take. The boys get the power of the
jump from Todd firsthand as they hang with him, smoke pot, and play video
games: this guy’s a loser, clinging to his one adolescent claim to fame, but to
Nathan especially, he’s the epitome of a man’s man.
A second leap lingers amongst the boisterous play of summer,
however, that proves more daunting than Todd’s Cliff. That leap, of course, is
going from friendship to love. Adam’s other friend at the cottages is his long-time
BFF Taylor (Katelyn McKerracher), who’s growing up and becoming quite the
talking point between the boys of the bay. Her relationship with Adam is
strictly platonic, but everyone from Riley to Nathan’s dad (David Disher, My Father and the Man in Black) thinks that
Adam should make the most of his youth and tap that while the timing’s right.
Therein lies the underlying intensity of Sleeping Giant: does Adam really know whom
he loves? The film marks a subtle and evocative coming of age story for Adam,
and perhaps a coming-out-of-the-closet one too as Adam’s reluctance to make the
move from being friends to “friends” with Taylor might say more than he lets
on. Martin’s excellently bashful and observant performance lets the audience
wonder what kind of personal awakening Adam undergoes as his gaze lingers more
on Riley than it does on Taylor. Whether he simply looks up to the more
outgoing boy as a mentor, or as more than just a friend, goes effectively
unsaid as Sleeping Giant captures the
confusing uncertainty of young love and unfamiliar rumblings.
In this nuanced treatment of Adam’s evolution does Cividino
best convey his own maturation as a filmmaker from Sleeping Giant the short to Sleeping
Giant the feature. Both films question Adam’s sexuality, but the director
shows a remarkable progression for handling the artistic difference between
‘telling’ and ‘showing’ in the two films. The short film merely has Nathan
directly ask Adam if he’s gay. It’s a normal off-the-cuff question between
teenage boys, especially for ones like Nathan who need to assert themselves now
and again, and the reaction shot on Adam’s face says enough after he denies it.
In the feature, though, Sleeping Giant implies,
rather than explicitly voices, Adam’s questioning. Once again, the reaction
shots to Martin say more as he lets his eyes linger a little too long. His own
sense of betrayal when a boy makes a move on Taylor is less a disappointment in
Taylor than it is in the other boy (or perhaps himself), while his childish
meddling between the friends shows that Adam is still very much in the process
of becoming sure of himself. On the other hand, Sleeping Giant lets the action between the boys simply convey the
power of homosocial bonds in this pivotal point in the friends’ lives. Adam and
Riley wrestle, yes, but there’s nothing to say that Adam becomes aroused during
the tussle, other than that Riley gives him a very strange look before the film
cuts to another bit of boisterous play.
The film adeptly shows what a strange, beautiful, and above
all, confusing time adolescence can be for young boys, especially in the wild
and powerful wilderness. Sleeping Giant grows up in its journey
from short to feature, and Cividino’s maturation as a filmmaker is a gigantic
leap.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Sleeping Giant screens:
-Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the Winter Garden Theatre at 9:00PM
-Thursday, Sept. 17 at TIFF Lightbox 3 at 9:00 PM
Please visit www.tiff.net for more
information on this year’s festival.
More coverage on this year’s festival can be found here.
