Sleeping Giant

Sleeping Giant follows in the well known path of edgy Canadian Indy films. Set near Thunder Bay, Ontario in a lakeside holiday area on Lake Superior, the movie revolves around three 15 year old boys Adam (Martin Jackson), Nate (Nick Serino) and Riley (Reece Moffitt) who hang out together for the summer. Nate and Riley are cousins and live in the area whereas Adam comes from the city and stays with his parents. The cousins are pretty rebellious and rough around the edges whereas Adam seems more innocent and less experienced in the wiles of the adolescent world. The movie is an incredibly realistic portrayal of the sometimes nihilistic lifestyle bored, unstructured and unsupervised mid-teens can live as Nate and Riley draw Adam into their world of smoking, drinking, pot smoking, sex (at least talking about it), theft, fighting, destruction of property and dangerous risk taking behavior, in this case, cliff jumping. Riley sees Adam's dad William (David Disher) have an illicit sexual encounter with a younger lady who works in the local fish shop. Adam plays a lot with a same aged childhood friend Taylor (Katlin McKerracher) who he has grown up with but who seems to be a bit of a flirt with boys and pretty soon Riley makes a move on her. William confronts Adam over his more withdrawn behavior only to have Adam shoot back over his father's affair and this leads to his Dad covering for Adam after the boys steal liquor from a local gas station and are caught on camera. Adam must also cope with the fact that two of his friends may now be in a relationship, so he gets thrust into the middle of an adolescent love triangle even though he professes only plutonic friendship for Taylor. Some may infer that he harbors an attraction to Riley. The plot comes to a head when the boys take up a dare from a local pot dealer deadhead who, in his teens 15 years earlier, jumped a 110 foot cliff on a deserted island out in the lake and the two more daredevil boys goad each other into replicating this feat only to find that Nate ruptures internal organs soon after his seeming successful jump and dies thus bringing the summer of fun crashing to an end. The movie has stunning scenery, and the three lead boys are refreshingly real and very authentic. It is always preferable when directors cast teenage actors of an age at or close to the age of their characters. In this case Serino and Moffitt actually are from the area and their on-screen grandmother is a real life aunt to one of the boys. Director Andrew Cividino apparently gave all the boys considerable license to adlib key scenes and this adds to the realism of their antics. Martin Jackson gives a particularly strong and nuanced performance and all in all, this is a cut above your typical teen boy coming-of-age drama.

This film mirrors many other coming-of-age, independent adolescent films set in summer. It follows three teenage boys: naïve, quiet Adam, laid-back, slight troublemaker Riley, and hot-headed, irreverent troublemaker Nate. The boys just start out having fun together as boys do. They begin to engage in property damage, theft, and dishonesty. They have little supervision and occasionally spend time with a man who sells them weed and obviously isn't aware of Child Protective Services. There is excessive use of the f-word, as well as vulgar talk, so that you do start to wonder why the writers chose to have minors speak like this (apparently the film got an R rating on Amazon for this very reason). A girl is spoken of in an objective, sexual manner and Adam engages in voyeurism. These are stereotypical, long-tried tropes of adolescent boys that we really do not need to be exposed to yet again, do we? Adam's happy life is soon disrupted once he learns of what's happening in his family; he naturally turns to his friends, but they have problems of their own. Later in the film, it becomes clear that all the boys are confused in one way or another. The peer pressure, lying, and inner conflicts (sleeping giants) eventually divide and push them, ultimately leading to a sad ending. Unfortunately, the adults in the boys' small world cannot help or reach them. They can't prevent the running wild and "fun" that eventually ends badly. This is a painful drama that does not really get resolved in the end; you are left hanging. You are left feeling bad for these teens, for their loneliness and their harsh awakening to reality.

I had very little trouble getting caught up in what I was watching, which can be a problem for me sometimes. The dialogue was not riveting but it also wasn't phony. This is a problem with many films about youth. They are written with adult dialogue. I was also very impressed with the way the characters were conceptualized and portrayed. They was nothing cliché about who these 3 boys were. The acting was just okay...it was easy to see that the cast was inexperienced but it didn't really bother me. I didn't like was the lighting or the shaky camera work...a clear sign of a low budget. I thought the ending was weird and weak. Both the scenes that involved the fish market woman were terrible and should have just been cut from the film. Especially the unexpected scene at the end. It was hard to believe that this would ever happen or play out the way it did. Over all it was a good flick and worth my time.

"Sleeping Giant" is a low-key Canadian film that builds to an explosive climax; even if sensitive coming of age stories tend to give you the indie fidgets, I'd still recommend this one. It does start out slowly, with improv'd ensemble scenes (quite convincing), standard montages of teenagers doing carefree teenage stuff and gorgeous shots of the Lake Superior shoreline. The POV character, Adam, is too shy and passive to generate much storyline on his own—how many kids like that grow up make indie films?, I wonder—though the shaky family dynamic is laid out very nicely: A scene where Adam's well intentioned but clumsy dad urges him to start something with his childhood friend, Taylor—now a lovely young woman who's caught the eye of one of Adam's bad-boy cousins—signals clearly that Dad may be up to something himself These and a few more wispy, unresolved subplots don't build up much momentum till the final scenes, beginning with a teenage tantrum that busts up a family Monopoly game… (I know, pretty Canadian, eh?) Great performances by the teenage principals, esp. first-time actor Nick Serino as another bad-boy cousin, Nate, the tantrum thrower. Not essential, but still quite watchable and available on streaming Netflix—otherwise how would we ever get to see it?

Based on the short film of the same name helmed by the same director. I recently saw many Canadian films, so here comes another one. This is a small film. Not by running time, but cast and production wise. A summer vacation tale, focused on the three boys. You know, summer is always a game changer for kids. This is the season where they learn about the other side of the world. Most of the coming-of-age events take place. Surely this is another one, but I liked it very much. The title could imply many things, but one of the meanings was the same as 'coming-of-age'. I meant, suddenly if you learn something, you realise its significance, then you won't be same as before. You try to act accordingly in the given situation. Like any teen films, you can expect fun stuffs from this. The adventure was good. Not thrilling ones, but like what normal kids do. What I most hated was harming insects. It might be nothing for the majority of people on the planet, but that was a disturbing image for me. I had almost turned the film down. There's no intro. The story just began and moved forward. Because it is easy to get along. Even the narration did not stick to any one's particular perspective. Though most of the time it was Adam's. The teenager came with his parents to spend the summer at their cottage located Canadian side of the Erie Lake. With two friends, he set to venture places around for fun. He's a decent kind, but not the other two. So because of them, he learns their way of making the day. But there's a limit for everything. Once that limit crossed, the story takes a turn and head straight for the finale. ❝Should take the opportunity while it's open, before it closes.❞ The film was predictable. Not like scene by scene, dialogues, but what might happen next. That's probably not by everyone. From the opening few minutes itself, I knew there's something big is coming up. But I had to wait for it till the last. I haven't seen the original short, though this story was so perfect for that kind. They extended it and I liked those developments which added more details, familiarising the characters and the situation. The writing was the tricky one. Not smartly done, though convincing one. There's always a clue left behind for what might come later, like a straightforward storytelling. So you basically watch it looking forward to that event. Still, the film was interesting enough to hook up with it. The film characters were awesome, very distinctive, which made the film possible. Though some dialogues should have been better. Most of them were improvised, which sometimes feels cinematically unfamiliar. Nevertheless, nice job done by all the cast, particularly the three boys. For other than the cinephiles, the ending could be an unexpected, because of the lack of exposure on what film would turn which way. A good film for teenagers to watch, but not for anyone younger than that. Because thematically, it was slightly strong. Referred sex, but no nudes. This is being a Canadian film could be the reason not recognised widely, but it deserves better than that. Not just this one, but many fine similar films met with the same fate before. I'm ninety-nine per cent sure you have never heard this title before. But if you had watched and liked such as 'The Kings of Summer', 'Paranoid Park', then why not try this one. It won't be your film of the year, but there's less chance for you to dislike it. 7/10

Sleeping Giant is a hidden gem of a film, but its gift can only be experienced when you abandon commercial expectations and allow the film the requisite amount of time needed to transport you from a pre- conditioned cinematic abyss to an authentic time and place. Emotions penetrate through the barriers of the screen, capturing the viewer with both the acting and directing. I enjoyed it. Well done. Rating: 8/10

This movie is what most of the reviews say it is; the story of three boys spending a summer on the shores of Lake Superior during a critical time in their development. The movie could have been set anywhere, we have seen the story before with different actors and different circumstances but the same ending- confusion, love, friendship and betrayal-culminating in tragedy. And in my opinion this movie did have an ending (contrary to what one reviewer states). There was no more to tell; in fact, to have the characters do or say more would have weakened the message. This is an "Art" film. The reviewer who gave one star points that out and then goes on to also underscore his/her lack of appreciation for art, instead making sure we know that the reviewer has a bad knee, pointing out the actors' need for dental work rather than the wonderful subtleties of the filming and acting. That the events of this particular story - teenage angst, boredom, insecurity, relationships, drugs/alcohol, stealing, destructive behaviour and foul/disrespectful language - unfold in a landscape full of nature's gifts makes it all the more poignant. The seemingly slow story is full of signs, symbols, foreshadowing and prophetic fallacy. The beetles, the dead bird, the fireworks, all play a part in telling the story by showing us the state of mind of the three boys. A lot of what they do is common among teenagers but this movie, for me, shows in broad strokes the problems inherent with stereotypes and judging by those stereotypes. The one boy that is portrayed as having perhaps the best character is guilty of something he cannot undo and cannot take back that had horrific consequences. And the boy portrayed as a "bad seed" with no future is the one who in reality shows us his humanity and acts upon the values of truth and honesty. The third boy, seemingly neither bad nor good, just goes along with the people around him and never takes a moral stance. I really enjoyed this film and suggest that you don't go into it looking for its faults but instead enjoy the subtleties and painful truths it has to offer.

I enjoy movies like this as it reminds me of better days in my youth. Very thoughtful movie and one that doesn't have poor humor and tired jokes tied in. True to life story with coming of age teens. We all have experienced good times and bad times growing up and unfortunately most have dealt with dark times or tragedies of life. The movie shows typical problems and growing pains that we all have experienced in some way or another growing up. Some of the movie isn't hard to figure out where it is going, but again still it is well thought out and true to real life. A good piece with raw talent and an above average story line to go with it.

During the summer in a resort area on the northern Ontario shore of Lake Superior, three boys in their early teens hang out together. They include Adam, a quiet boy from a well-off family; Riley a tough boy who lives in a modest home with his grandmother; and Nate, Riley's equally tough cousin who is staying with Riley and their grandmother during the summer. Knowing that this was yet another boys-coming-of-age movies, my first reaction was "Good God, not ANOTHER one"! But there are some films in this category that stand out among the (seemingly) thousands of others. "Sleeping Giant" is one of them. For one thing, Adam does not go along with the hyper-macho talk of the other boys or the milder macho talk coming from his father. There are more than a few hints that Adam might be gay. The first half is rather difficult. Nate is so viciously mean-spirited and bullying that the viewer can feel dragged through an endurance test. This is partly because of the accuracy of the portrayal of teenaged bullies. While it is more than tempting to wish Nate harm due to his meanness, these feelings change in the second half when major dramatic turns take place. Feelings come to the surface during a board-game. This sequence is powerful for many reasons. One is that it is so true-to-life with one character acting as an inconsistent rule enforcer. The drama that follows is compelling and moving thus making the tough slogging of the first half well worth the experience. There are other fine characterizations as well including Adam's father who is trying to be a father while also trying to appear "cool" to the teenagers. - dbamateurcritic.

Having read the other reviews here, there is only one which I completely agree with. The signs are there if you look for them, but most people seem to have missed the fact that the Sleeping Giant is not only a teenager's anger, but perhaps moreso his sexuality beginning to burgeon with disastrous results. SPOILERS Where several other reviewers talk about a triangle of two teens wanting the same girl, in fact it is much more about one teen wanting his buddy but afraid to admit to it - and finding a way to discourage the girl from continuing her flirtation with the object of his affection (his buddy). There is one scene where his buddy says (I'm paraphrasing) "If you like someone you should tell them." and there is a second when he almost admits his love for the other boy... but we also understand that, when, in a later scene with his fathers "mistress", he says "There's something wrong with me" - it is really the admission that he has gay feelings. That other reviewers missed this doesn't surprise me; it is very nuanced in the telling, but any gay person will see the signs that others miss. As for the rest of the film, it is extremely well constructed, with so many moments of foreboding building to a climax that the tension is almost unbearable sometimes. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted, a gem.