Review of Sleeping Giant (2014) by Amanda C — 04 Sep 2016

I am very conflicted over Sleeping Giant. On the one hand, from a filmmaking perspective, Sleeping Giant is incredibly accomplished. The direction creates an interesting kelidoscope of images of summer in Northern Ontario.

It is beautifully constructed and unique. On the other hand, even though the performances from the three kids are solid, I just can't get past the fact that this is yet another film about how difficult it is to be a teenaged boy.

While the dialogue of Sleeping Giant is authentic, the heavy misogyny and lack of awareness of any other experiences is grating. Sleeping Giant may objectively be a good film in the coming of age genre, but it's something that has been seen so many times before.

It's time for new coming of age stories, ones that don't feature entitled white boys.