![]() GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV: (Singing) I'm a ghost of you. MONDELLO: Wyatt Oleff's Ethan, eager to spread his wings, and Fin Argus as his laid-back brother are appealing figures, easy to imagine in a more conventional coming-of-age flick or maybe writing an unconventional one called "Stay Awake." I'm Bob Mondello. But every single time that I see them, I'm just reminded that I have failed. METZ: (As Michelle) I want to be a good mom that goes to PTA meetings and makes good meals and gives great relationship advice. MONDELLO: That's more her take than the film's, which spreads the blame - a doctor who kept prescribing expensive treatment centers - and lets Chrissy Metz bring empathy to the character. METZ: (As Michelle) I've blown it haven't I? I mean, I'm an awful mother. He said in interviews that he and his brother were this sort of caretaker and that the experience helped him come to terms with addiction as an illness. MONDELLO: Writer-director Jamie Sisley is expanding on a short film he made eight years ago but also on his own life. If we don't figure this out, we're going to be stuck here. OLEFF: (As Ethan) We need to figure something out.ĪRGUS: (As Derek) Like I haven't been trying for years. MONDELLO: Most films about addiction focus on the addict - the heroin-addled hero in "Trainspotting," say, or the alcohol fueled barflies in "The Lost Weekend" and "Days Of Wine And Roses." But "Stay Awake" concentrates on the collateral damage done - not to mom but to her sons. OLEFF: (As Ethan) She needs to try rehab again. OLEFF: (As Ethan) We agreed, though, you know? You go pursue acting when I head to college, right? He's made it clear he can't see leaving their mom. If Ethan leaves, Derek could be stuck working at the bowling alley forever. METZ: (As Michelle) And, honey, you should just do what you want to do. OLEFF: (As Ethan) Not all English majors end up broke. METZ: (As Michelle) Do you know what you want to study? You going to be a lawyer, a doctor?ĪRGUS: (As Derek) He wants to be an English major, Ma, 'cause the world needs more unemployed writers. METZ: (As Michelle) I can't believe it - my boy, the first in our family to go to college. Ethan's been accepted at an Ivy League school on a full scholarship several states away. Ethan and Derek are used to parenting their mother, putting their lives on hold to care for her, but they're reaching an inflection point. Then she takes them out for breakfast as if nothing much has happened. MONDELLO: Their work now done, the boys fall asleep on chairs in their mother's hospital room, and the next morning Mom wakes and rises to cover them with her blanket. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Hey, babies. ![]() MONDELLO: When they get to the emergency room, supporting Mom between them, they are still on familiar ground straight into a room with Mom greeting the nurses, who barely look up. OLEFF: (As Ethan, singing) Everybody's talking at me. What's that one?ĬHRISSY METZ: (As Michelle) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids.ĪRGUS: (As Derek) There we go. Ma?ĪRGUS AND OLEFF: (As Derek and Ethan, singing) Raindrops are falling on my head.ĪRGUS: (As Derek) Come on. They keep falling.ĪRGUS: (As Derek) This is easy. OLEFF: (As Ethan, singing) Nothing seems to fit.įIN ARGUS AND WYATT OLEFF: (As Derek and Ethan, singing) Those raindrops are falling on my head. Mom's overdosed on prescription drugs again, and they know the drill - got to keep her conscious on the drive to the hospital. And at the counter, he just looks at older brother Derek, who almost seems to have been expecting him and who ducks into the manager's office.įIN ARGUS: (As Derek) Hey, Les. MONDELLO: He listens for a moment, walks into the kitchen and shuts off the water that's running in the sink. We first see Ethan as he's arriving home from high school. Critic Bob Mondello says the teen brothers in "Stay Awake" have an extra hurdle, and it's a big one.īOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Rural Virginia. Filmmakers have been crafting coming-of-age movies for years about teens struggling with peer pressure or parental expectations or just coming to terms with adult feelings.
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