‘No Sleep Till’: Venice Review

Dir/scr: Alexandra Simpson. US/Switzerland 2024.  94mins

It may not be the end of the world, but it increasingly feels like it in No Sleep Till. Alexandra Simpson’s bluesy, melancholic debut feature is set on the Florida coastline as a hurricane is forecast to hit land. While many heed the mandatory evacuation order, others choose to remain and they become the focus of a low-key, impressionistic work that emphasises ambience and introspection over narrative momentum. Simpson’s distinctive vision makes for a potentially challenging commercial proposition, but should attract further festival admiration following a world premiere in Venice Critics Week.

 Emphasises ambience and introspection over narrative momentum

Simpson has cited Kelly Reichardt as an influence on her work, and No Sleep Till could almost be characterised as the version of Twisters that Reichardt might have directed. There is a storm chaser in the mix but this is a film of brooding silences, magenta-flushed twilight skies, quirky details and observations of random characters momentarily caught in the eye of a storm.

Radio broadcasts and police messages become a soundtrack to unfolding events as the residents of a Florida coastal town are given a storm warning and advised to leave their homes. Among the characters who remain and claim the attention are solitary storm chaser Taylor (Taylor Benton), weary country singer Margaret (Violet Strickland), teenager June (Brynne Hofbauer) and brothers Will (Jordan Coley) and Mike (Xavier Brown-Sanders). Will is an aspiring stand-up comic testing out material to the largely indifferent stragglers in a club. He has the notion that the brothers could finally leave town, head for Philadelphia and explore a world of new possibilities.

The brothers are the most substantial and engaging of the characters, especially when Mike is given a moment to poignantly express what his sibling has meant to him. Margaret, meanwhile, is told her services are no longer required after her boss uses the financial implications of the storm to make staff redundant. June is also faced with a break from everyday realities as the tourists leave town and the souvenir shop where she works sees their takings dwindle away. As she wonders around an almost empty town, she seems like a ghost.  

In many respects, the film is about how the storm becomes a moment out of time to reflect on the life you have, or a chance to try on a different life and see how it might fit. It is also a reflection of a more generalised anxiety about climate change, the state of the planet and the uncertainties of the future. Why hide away from a storm when something equally destructive is probably coming down the line?

Simpson remains in control of mood and emotion throughout, allowing time to contemplate everyday details from the little dolphin souvenirs on sale at Porpoise Park to raccoons emerging from the shadows to sip water from a swimming pool and the shadows of people partying the night away in the face of impending disaster. Cinematographer Sylvain Froidevaux, also making his feature debut, contributes to the overall feeling of emptiness and abandonment. Nights are brightened by pools of light from neon signage, motels are largely unoccupied and a solitary cyclist turns wheelies in a car park largely devoid of cars or people. In No Sleep Till, it feels as if time is standing still.