Have you ever looked up into the sky at the sun and burned a hole in your cornea? Well I was tired of the use of my eyes this afternoon and looked into that big ol sun, and it just stared back. I asked it to burn out my eyes so that I could spy no more, and the Sun said it had peaked into a window somewhere and seen WIDE AWAKE, a film coming up next month from Miramax. Well, let me let the big ignited ball of gas tell you:
Sun, reporting to you on a movie coming out a month from now. It's called "Wide Awake", and although you may not have heard anything about it yet, I promise you that soon you will. Why? Because it's being distributed by Miramax and one of the costars is Rosie O'Donnell. Two of the most relentless promoters in the business! However, Rosie only totals about fifteen minutes top in this movie. The star, who is jaw-droppingly good, is a ten-year old named Joseph Cross. He plays a child going to Catholic school who is questioning the existence of God after his grandfather dies. I have got to say, this is one of the best performances i have ever seen a child give. He is incredibly natural, everything he does he makes entirely believable, and he can stir emotions better than any other actor in this film! I can't convey how good he is, you really should see this film for his performance. We should hope that Jake Lloyd is half this good. The film itself is also effective for the most part. The actors in the supporting parts work very well, including Denis Leary and Dana Delaney as parents, Robert Loggia as the grandfather and O'Donnell as the nun. The film works at almost everything it tries...almost. There is a completely unnecessary and unconvincing subplot involving a love interest for the little boy. It just doesn't work in this film. But almost everything else works surprisingly well, and you may find tears welling up in your eyes more than once if you see it. Seriously! I can't believe it myself.
The writer/director, M. Night Shyamalan, answered some questions after the movie and supplied some interesting tidbits. Like that his latest screenplay, Sixth Sense, was sold to Disney for $2.5 million. This guy's on the rise. And he also says that Miramax plans to market this movie as a kid's funny adventures with wacky friends and crazy Sister Rosie. Well, it's not that at all. Maybe it will draw more people in, but I hope it won't turn others off. This is a very sensitive film and shows signs of a promising filmmaker on the horizon. And a truly unbelievable child actor who should be flooded with work after this! I think a fellow AICNer, named after a stone that produces a spark on your planet, was in attendance, he'll probably back me up on that phenomenal acting job.
