Sleep All Day is a deceptively simple short film, but the muted and grainy color palette and eerie score add layers of depth and complexity. Set mostly in one dim bedroom, the film deals with the subject of mother-daughter relations becoming strained by depression. I feel like many viewers can relate to the adolescent daughter in this film, who feels so weighted down by sadness that she struggles to get out of bed. I found myself thinking about this story from the mother’s perspective as well, and about how parents must wrestle with the push and pull of whether to comfort their child or prod them to get up, and with what is best for their well-being. There is something haunting and resonant about knowing either decision must be painful to make.
The writer and director Bixuan Zhang specializes at exploring complex and nuanced emotions within mother-daughter relationships, and that is exactly what she has done successfully here. It’s rare to see a film about a mother and daughter coping with and talking about depression in a way as realistic as this film, where they don’t even want to talk about depression at all. Instead, it becomes about the line between maternal love and mental illness, and the constantly blurring line between them.
You can see Sleep All Day at Mental Filmness on 10/10, World Mental Health Day!
Get your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-filmness-film-festival-tickets-2000057532921
