FILM FRENZY

Fin Argus and Wyatt Oleff in Stay Awake (Photos: Marvista)

By Matt Brunson

STAY AWAKE
★★★ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Jamie Sisley
STARS Wyatt Oleff, Fin Argus

From The Man With the Golden Arm to Permanent Midnight to, uh, Reefer Madness, there have been numerous films about drug abuse. Most, however, have been primarily from the perspective of the addict, examining in grisly detail the highs, lows, trips, withdrawals, and whatnot (or, as Neil Young put it, the needle and the damage done).

Stay Awake takes a slightly different approach. Its addict is Michelle (Chrissy Metz), a single mom who’s long been hooked on prescription drugs and opioids. Yet while the film is mindful to show the crippling effects of her dependency on both mind and body, its main focus is on the trials and tribulations endured by her two sons, 17-year-old Ethan (Wyatt Oleff) and 19-year-old Derek (Fin Argus). These are two kids who would make any parent proud. Derek is a particularly sensitive boy, always trying to find the best in any given situation. And Ethan is a brainiac, someone who, as his brother notes, acts like he’s heading for a C- on his assignments and then invariably scores an A.

Both Ethan and Derek are wonderful children to their mother, always prepared to rescue her off the streets when she’s relapsed and quick to get her proper care. But like Emilia Jones’ Ruby in the Oscar-winning Coda, they both have golden opportunities elsewhere but feel compelled to remain close to home to assist with family matters. Derek is an actor who’s been landing voice-over work in commercials, but he needs to leave town to find more gigs. And Ethan has just been offered a full scholarship at prestigious Brown University, which would take him far from his high-maintenance mother. But at least he’s willing to consider breaking the bonds and living his own life — for his part, Derek might be the more dutiful son but his devotion is killing his chances at a life of his own.

Writer-director Jamie Sisley used his own childhood experiences for this story — he and his brother likewise had a druggie mom — and he converted it into a 2015 short film (also titled Stay Awake) before expanding it into this 95-minute feature. It’s a self-assured work, deriving most of its strength from its well-written characters and the actors who inhabit them. Metz (an Emmy Award nominee for This Is Us) allows us to see the good mom peeking out from underneath the terrible one — Michelle loves her boys, but she’s simply not strong enough to sever ties with her addiction. Argus allows some grace notes of resigned acceptance to flash across his face, a contract with himself to always be there for his mother — it’s a lovely performance. And Oleff (the young Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and the young Stanley Uris in the It flicks) plays the high school kid perfectly, fumbling his relationship with his girlfriend (Lorrie Odom), growing petulant on occasion, and turning to seemingly extreme measures to solve this crisis.

If there’s a villain in this piece, it’s not Michelle, despite the burdens she places on her young boys, but the doctor (Spencer Cohen) who acts as enabler. A humorless man, he barely takes time to consider her real needs before hastily writing out prescriptions. This is the only part of the film that feels underdeveloped, as I kept waiting for the brothers (who give his sign the finger every time they pass it) to report him or confront him (instead, he’s dismissed with an understandable if juvenile prank).

The scenes between Michelle and her sons are fine, but it’s the scenes between the brothers that stand out. It’s a loving relationship that naturally has a few disruptive hiccups, but it’s the combined strength of these two teenagers that allows them to deal with this domestic crisis in the most adult manner possible.

(Stay Awake will be available beginning August 15 on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and other streaming platforms. Pre-orders start August 4.)