Sleeping Giant

Teens, Lies, and Pain – a truly wonderful indie
Three Canadian boys, two of them recruited locally at the movie’s setting in Thunder Bay, Ontario, put on an extraordinary collective acting job in this indie that begins in bright sunshine and grows ever darker. The movie centers on three boys summering together on the north shore of Lake Superior. Nick Serino plays the mouthy, trash-talking Nate. Serino’s real-life cousin Reece Moffett plays Nate’s quiet, athletic, and likeable cousin Riley. And Jackson Martin stars as the cerebral, retiring, and wimpy Adam. These three personality types take in about 95% of the boys you may have known in high school, and director Andrew Cividino does a masterful job of bringing those personalities to the screen in a highly realistic way, often encouraging his young actors to reprise real-life experiences. This 2015 full-length movie, which is a full-length remake of a 2014 short film of the same name, has gravitas, though. It’s a story about lies and the pain that can flow from them, even for the very young. The movie reaches a dramatic and emotional climax that seems, at first blush, to end a bit abruptly…until you realize that the movie has no place else to go. The three teens won two awards for ensemble acting, and each boy either won, or was nominated for, an acting award at a major film festival…a tribute to their director in his first feature-length effort. The movie is well filmed, beautifully and originally scored, and eminently re-watchable. It’s easily one of the five best independent films I’ve seen out of more than 200 viewed.

This is probably the best Canadian movie I’v ever seen. I loved it so much, I watched it two Saturday nights in a row! Great young actors, great story, great music, and I loved the bonus documentary on the cast and director going to Cannes to present the film. An instant classic, and an instant favourite!

Bought several copies for friends and it will be in my permanent collection.Canadian feature film developed from an award winning short. Scenery and music a plus.

A very good and thought-provoking movie, – we missed it at the theatre but the added features on the DVD made it worth the wait.