Sleepless (2015)

The characters struck me because one I’ve met them and two I’m one of them.

Not far from reality.

Gem (Glaiza de Castro) works as a call center agent, a dead-end job according to her mother (Irma Adlawan). But Gem thinks otherwise. Thus, she continues working despite the shifting schedule which messes up her body clock.

There, she meets Barry (Dominic Roco). He’s a new agent who like her is also suffering from sleepless nights. Upon learning that they live in the same building, they make a pact to keep each other company with stories.

These characters struck me so hard because one I’ve met them and two I’m one of them.

Simple and relatable.

Though both characters have their own issues, the sleepless journey is as simple as their train ride which takes them from point A to B. And just like any journey, they encounter a stop sign hindering them from moving forward.

But together they face the reason behind their sleepless nights. Together they combat loneliness through imagination and creativity.

There are scenes wherein Gem and Barry would “dub” the conversations of other people leading them to more weird and funny ideas.

Anong gagawin mo ‘pag may zombie apocalypse?
If a zombie apocalypse happens, what will you do?

Gem would be channeling her inner Lara Croft and fight them using a riffle. Barry, on the other hand, would be chopping off zombie heads using a katana. Loneliness is indeed a powerful thing but with someone beside, you’ll be able to break through eventually.

Life in darkness.

It’s worth mentioning that the film has many visually captivating shots which balanced out reality. Besides those working at the call center, how many more are up at night? You can count the old lady selling balut near the eskinita, people out for a late night snack, and couples fighting in the middle of the night. Sleepless successfully showed us that there is beauty as well as life in darkness.

The film Sleepless clearly deserves all the praises. I hope more people will be able to watch this and more films will be as beautiful as this.

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