Awake

2021
TV-MA
1h 36m

IMDb RATING

4.9/10

27K

YOUR RATING

Gina Rodriguez and Ariana Greenblatt in Awake (2021)

Chaos ensues after a global event wipes out all electronics and takes away humankind's ability to sleep. But Jill (Gina Rodriguez), an ex-soldier with a troubled past, may hold the key to a cure in the form of her own daughter.

Play trailer2:07

11 Videos

21 Photos

Dark Comedy Dystopian Sci-Fi Psychological Drama Psychological Thriller Action Adventure Drama Horror Sci-Fi Thriller

After a devastating global event wiped out all electronics and eliminated people's ability to sleep, a former soldier may have found a solution with her daughter.After a devastating global event wiped out all electronics and eliminated people's ability to sleep, a former soldier may have found a solution with her daughter.After a devastating global event wiped out all electronics and eliminated people's ability to sleep, a former soldier may have found a solution with her daughter.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.9/10

27K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Trivia
In the library, one sees a small white sticker with a red maple leaf, on the spines of some books. These stickers indicate that the books are written by Canadian authors. This was filmed in a branch of the Toronto Public Library.

Goofs
The incident causes numerous accidents and hospital admissions surge, yet it takes a young girl to catch on that the 'cure' is very short term cardiac arrest and resuscitation. This wouldn't have gone unnoticed in hospitals or elder care homes.

Quotes
Jill: Fixing this car is going to be so hard. Oh, man. Okay. But there are books on that, okay? You hear?
Dodge: [Smiles] Burn the books, man. Burn 'em all. Don't need those anymore.
Jill: [Matilda looks behind her] Ah, eyes! Can you maybe just not- Focus on the road, please. Not talk to her so she can concentrate, please.
Dodge: [Looks to Noah] Enough people said that the Earth was flat, so the Earth was flat. Then, they said the Earth was round... so the Earth was round.
Noah: The Earth is round.
Dodge: Prove it.
Noah: Science proves it.
Dodge: [laughs] Science? And who understands the science, huh?
Jill: [Matilda looks back at Dodge] Eyes on the road, please. Always.
Dodge: Enough people talk about something, right? Then they put it in the books, and then the book becomes fact. Then it's settled. Then no one understands it anymore, no one even talks about it anymore. Fuck, this is why we gotta burn the books man.
Matilda: [Gripping the steering wheel] He said the F-word.
Jill: I know. Please shut up.
[Dodge whispers an apology]
Jill: She's a kid.
Dodge: Okay.
[pause]
Dodge: You know, my grandmama, you know what she used to tell me? That all the world's problems could disappear in one generation if every kid grew up forgetting all the shit they were taught, the shit that doesn't make sense, but you're taught it enough times you believe it. Then we could actually live in a world where no one is starving... and everyone's equal.

Connections
Referenced in Korman Productions Deep Dive TV Podcast: The Sinner Deep Dive S4E1 "Part I" with Dave and Stacie (2024)

Soundtracks
Wow.
Performed by Post Malone
Written by Louis Bell, Adam Feeney (as Adam Feeney), Post Malone (as Austin Post), Carl Rosen and Billy Walsh
Courtesy of Republic Records
Under license from Universal Music Canada Inc.

User reviews610

Review

Featured review

5/10

Ok but something missing

Movie has an interesting premise but like Greenland, another "disaster" movie I watched recently, it's as if the writers imagined the film as sci-fi but hadn't a clue how to actually write a plot with science, so they threw a few crumbs in the plot to get it going then Awake turned into a road trip to nothing. The characters were unable to sleep but I didn't have any trouble....

The movie is more about a former soldier/mom/recovering drug abuser and her vulnerabilities, which is generally fine, but like Greenland, Awake falls into one complication after the other in an attempt to get to safety / find a cure which, again is generally ok, but it should have had some science along the way to make it seem like a, well, sci-fi. In the beginning of the movie just after the accident the movie seemed to actually skip an important piece of information--where the characters become aware of the inability to sleep. Seems there would have been more buzz about that moment. Instead the movie jumps ahead like we're supposed to know that the world, except for two people, can't sleep and will go crazy and die. Well, nothing interesting (sciency) really happens from there. And the ending? What ending? It is a CHEAP shot by a writer to avoid a real ending. Go ahead and watch the film if you have nothing better to do just to check out that... ending. The little girl who couldn't sleep did a fine job acting. Gina Rodriguez is good a playing a vulnerable but tough mom who does a lot of sobbing like mom's are supposed to do. She's also good at playing characters who sound like they have asthma and no inhaler.

Could have been a better movie. I wouldn't have paid money to see it (well I sorta did since I'm a Netflix sub). Was hoping for more.