Jamie Sisley’s feature-length directorial debut, Stay Awake, is nothing new to anyone with a family or loved one struggling with addiction. In the small-town drama, Wyatt Oleff and Finn Argus play Ethan and Derek, teenage siblings forced to care for her mother Michelle (Chrissy Metz), who has become dependent on prescription painkillers. . It’s an all-too-familiar scenario across America, and the ups and downs and disappointments that Michelle and her sons face during the grueling treatment are incredibly human and unfortunately predictable.
Stay Awake does its best to center both the story of addiction and Ethan and Derek’s own separate coming-of-age stories without demonizing its characters.
This great goal can sometimes seem clunky and meandering, like when Ethan breaks up with his girlfriend awkwardly after revealing he’s going to another college. The drama that follows doesn’t even quite match other situations Ethan faces, such as the life-or-death stakes that exist elsewhere in the film, or being secretly in love with her male classmate. Despite such shortcomings, Olef, Argus, and Metz succeed in portraying both the frustration and compassion that come with caring for relatives who constantly harm themselves.
stay up
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. at the theater.
