Girl Asleep (2015) - Rosemary Myers

Rosemary Myers' Girl Asleep is an imaginative story of adolescence which uses a heavy dosage of surrealism and impressionistic photography to deliver a truly memorable coming-of-age story about both the treacherous waters of this time and one's life, and the fear associated with becoming an adult.  Girl Asleep follows Greta Driscoll, a shy, introsverted young girl who is on the cusp of turning fifteen but remains reluctant to leave her childhood behind.  Recently starting at a new school, Greta is a bit of a loner, with her only friend coming in the form of Elliott, a geeky boy who somewhat forcefully injected himself into her world.  Comfortable and relatively happy in her quiet existence, Greta finds her world turned upside down when her parents insist on throwing her a surprise 15th birthday party, a decision that sends Rosemary spiraling into a parallel world, a peculiar place in which Greta's adolescent-fueled manifestations of self-doubt, sexuality, anger, and frustration come to fruition in an exaggerated, surrealistic reality.  Rosemary Myer's Girl Asleep is a journey into the chaotic mind of a young girl grasping with adulthood, exhibiting not only the fear-inducing absurdities an over-active imagination can create, but also the creative exuberance of a teenage mind trying desperately to make sense of the world.  Reminiscent of the films of Wes Anderson early on, Girl Asleep invokes a colorful production design and vibrant visual aesthetic to transport the viewer into the world of Greta,  delivering a creative and relatively distinct look and feel that invokes the sheltered, introverted mood of this character, one who lives almost entirely in her own head.  While the film's vibrant colorful palette seems to conflict with Greta's introverted demeanor, it provides a startling contrast between her childhood and the vibrant world of adulthood, creating a quirky overall sensibility which aligns with Greta's independence.  Shot in 4:3, Girl Asleep routinely takes advantage of its format to provide context, routinely fixating the camera head-on, like a still photography portrait in which she is the center of attention, a visual way of expressing the anxiety triggered by Greta routinely being pulled out of her introverted headspace.  This surrealist journey is both confrontational but eventually triggers this character to find solace in her growth, as she begins to find comfort in what can feel sometimes like an incomprehensible new world.  Fear of the unknown is simply a part of the human experience, especially during adolescence, and Rosemary Myers' Girl Asleep beautifully encapsulates this through a surrealistic, expressive tone, being honest and creative in capturing the vast changes, both physically and emotional that puberty can have on the psyche through our introverted main protagonist.

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