Australasian Cinema > films >

Girl Asleep

Girl Asleep (Rosemary Myers, 2015) wr. Matthew Whittet from his play, prod. Jo Dyer, Windmill Theatre, dp Andrew Commis; Bethany Whitmore, Harrison Feldman, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Imogen Archer, Eamon Farren, Matthew Whittet, Amber McMahon, Danielle Catanzariti, Fiona Dawson, Grace Dawson, Maiah Stewardson, CirKidz; premiere Adelaide FF; nom for best film AACTA 2016

Wide awake to the wonder, terror and giddy confusion of being a 14-year-old adolescent in 1970s Australia — or anywhere at any time, for that matter — Rosemary Myers’ Girl Asleep is a strange, savvy, big-hearted teen adventure that feels perfectly pitched to its target audience as well as those of all ages in search of something unquestionably unique. In the wake of the film’s high-profile European premiere on opening night of the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus program, like-minded sidebars at fests will come calling, with positive word of mouth and laudatory critical attention rousing sales. Eddie Cockrell, Variety.

It really is a festival film, a film for fans of cinema, fans who appreciate the richness of invention and the way Myers uses all the tools of cinema to not only tell the story - such as it is - but to take us inside the emotional turmoil that young Greta (Bethany Whitmore) is going through. Andrew Urban, urbancinefile.

An Australian teen’s 15th birthday party is the crucible in which her burgeoning adult identity is formed in Girl Asleep, the stylish, formally exuberant debut of theater director Rosemary Myers. Adapting his own play, which premiered at last year’s Adelaide Festival, screenwriter Matthew Whittet has come up with the antipodean answer to the deadpan stylizations of Wes Anderson and Richard Ayoade. This is the latest in a seemingly never-ending stream of play adaptations to hit Australian screens this year, but Girl Asleep is the most fluidly cinematic of the lot — despite predominantly being set in one house. Harry Windsor, Hollywood Reporter.


Garry Gillard | New: 28 October, 2016 | Now: 6 April, 2020