Chad Feehan first stepped into the spotlight as the producer of ‘All The Boys Love Mandy Lane’ which made a splash at Toronto. This time he returns full force as writer/director of ‘Wake’ starring Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) and Josh Stewart (The Collector).
Driving through the desert toward a wedding in Los Angeles a young couple’s stay at a roadside motel leads to them confronting secrets from their past that promise grave consequences. Well that’s my Redbox summary of the movie anyway. Adrienne, played Sigler, and Paul, played by Stewart, are pretty much a horny young couple whose indiscretions cause them to lose control of their vehicle in a “near death” experience that hurls them across the road. Rather than continue on they decide that Roy’s Motel, a seedy deserted stop is as good a place as any to get take the edge off. They are greeted by a strange hotel clerk (Chris Browning) who runs the entire motel and diner alone, and seems to have a penchant for saving electricity since the lights in the place never seem to be on.
As a whole the director should be proud of this first achievement as it is a very solid film with great production value. I mention that simply because I’m sure this film was budgeted on the lower end of the spectrum. Going in to the film everyone was drawing comparisons to The Shining and the Director of the film mentioned that he included at least 3 references he used to pay homage to the classic. The references are there but that’s about the only thing that warrants the comparison. The movie itself, although not horrible, will not leave you with an eerie feeling and won’t have you keeping an eye out for REDRUM on the bathroom mirror.
My main issues with the film are the execution of the story and the editing. You see I don’t have a problem being told the same story I’ve heard before, as is the case here, but all I ask is that the story be told differently. Use a strong creative voice or dazzle the audience with a different look. At times it felt better suited for an episode in a Masters of Horror series than a feature on it's own. This story of redemption is definitely a morality tale with it’s heart in the right place, although that may be where it’s faults are. It seemed at times as if the director really had a lot he wanted to say with the film and it came off as overkill.
I have to take issue with the editing of the film as well. The story jumps back and forth between the two lovers and the back story of the hotel clerk and his promiscuous wife. The transition between these two stories is pivotal yet it comes off a little jarring early on. It takes some time to grasp the direction the two stories are trying to lead you in, although the destination is evident early on. I don’t want to include too many spoilers but it was very clear that there were elements in this story inspired by the documentary ‘Raw Deal’ and this was confirmed by the director after the film screened. I personally thought that was an interesting choice and applaud the filmmakers efforts in taking a creative look at the consequences and ripple effect of people’s choices.
I’m not sure what type of distribution this movie will see in the end but having these two faces in it can’t hurt. If you happen to stumble across it on Netflix I think it’s definitely worth Queuing up.
