Unrated, 1 hr. 44 min. Directed By:
Julia Leigh.
Release Date: Dec 2, 2011. DVD Release Date: Apr 10, 2012.
Sometimes I get the feeling that
certain actors always seem to attract the same kinds of movies in the way that
black holes attract light. I’m rapidly
beginning to think that Emily Browning is one of those actresses. There are a number of vague similarities
between Sleeping Beauty and the last
Emily Browning film I saw, which was Sucker
Punch, and before you go get all riled up, think at a very distant view
of both tales. In both films, Emily
Browning plays a woman who has clearly been victimized by something terrible,
although in the latter film, Browning’s character fights back. Both movies have more attention paid to the
scenery and visual effects than whatever it was the actors happened to be
doing. Both movies have stories that
seem to depend on a back story that we aren’t privy to, and that feel largely
unfinished or raw as a result. Both
movies seem to feel a certain lack of emotion, especially in those scenes where
there should be some.
I’ll start with the positive. Visually, Sleeping
Beauty is a beautiful film. Most of
the settings are sophisticated, rich and opulent. Opulent is probably the right word. It actually feels a little off for Australia,
since we’re usually treated to insights into the more, um, middle class folk in
Oz. Like everywhere, Australia has its
wealthy population, I’d just never seen any of them before. Think of it like that lipstick lesbian thing
from Chasing Amy.
Therein lies my praise, more or
less. It’s really pretty. Emily Browning is beautiful. But she spends most of the movie walking
around like that Borg chick from Star
Trek: Voyager. There’s a disconnect
between camera and scene that feels off.
I don’t feel that there was any effort to pull me in to this story; I
was always meant to be an outsider, and quite frankly, I felt like one. It turned down pretty much every emotional
reaction I could have to this movie.
Dispassion was kind of a raison d’etre
here. The characters are stiff and
unyielding, with the exception of a few of the supporting cast. The dialogue feels heavy, a burden that the
actors are relieving themselves of by shoving them into the waiting laps of the
audience. Even the camera’s lack of
motion contributes, a little, to the feeling that there’s a barrier.
And then there’s my problem with
Lucy (Browning). I tried really, really
hard, but I didn’t like Lucy. I’m pretty
sure we weren’t meant to, and I’m not sure why.
Could I have gotten over her part-time profession morally if she was
merely trying to work her way through school?
Sure, why not? But add in a life
that might or might not have included prostitution, drugs, and a complete lack
of compassion for most of the rest of the characters, and you have someone that
isn’t easy to like.
In a nutshell, this movie wasn’t
great, which was a disappointment since it made so many film festivals in
2011. It was kind of watchable, but not
a second time. I’m also going to take
the suggestion that maybe I shouldn’t be watching Emily Browning only because
she’s easy on the eyes.
