The post Movie Review – Before I Wake appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.

Movie Review – Before I Wake

Couple of years back, an all-important truth about creative work dawned upon me.

Concept is easy to come up with. But skilful execution is what differentiates amateurs and professionals.

Think about it. You prepare a strong cup of coffee. You sit down and let your mind go wild. Chances are, you’d be able to come up with some pretty wild ideas. On the other hand, how to translate these ideas into effective ad campaigns, messages, or movies. Now, that’s a totally different business altogether.

Before I Wake is another movie that failed at this translation process. It had a pretty intriguing premise, an unusual take on the overused evil orphan / possibly evil foster parents / haunted house tropes. The way the back story is set up, there also feels to be heavy potential for discussion of family issues. Sadly, all these added together was possibly too cumbersome for the director. The moment the nature of the “horror” is made clear, the story spins out of control, and you get the feeling that the movie struggles to maintain its identity. Is it still an evil orphan story? It is now a supernatural detective drama? Or has it become gothic survival horror action? Heaps of questions and sub-plots freely abandoned further adds to the viewing frustration. I kept wondering, for example, whether there was more to Kate Bosworth’s suffering mummy persona, since so much screen time was spent suggesting that she is unbalanced. That the movie ends with her becoming the resourceful heroine is just, bewildering. As for the explanation for the “ability” of the orphan, that returns a little of the magic from the earlier half of the movie. But again, this explanation quickly spirals towards being baffling and convenient. The whole viewing experience was made even more unsatisfying.

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The post Movie Review – Before I Wake appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.