Alexandra Simpson Explores Small-Town Tension in ‘No Sleep Till’: ‘There’s Such a Power in Their Own Isolation’
variety.comCarole Horst Alexandra Simpson makes her feature directing and writing debut with Venice Critics Week entry “No Sleep Till,” a dreamy, visually striking look at locals in a small Florida beach town under the threat of a hurricane.
Shot by Sylvain Froidevaux, the humidity drips off the screen as teenagers party and skateboard, and a girl mans the register at a souvenir shop that barely attract any customers.
There’s an aspiring comic and his buddy, who can’t quite make the leap to the bigger-time clubs up north, a Zen-like storm chaser and public pool caretakers.
All the characters also live under the threat of gentrification, which could price them out of their town. Simpson herself was born in Paris and grew up there but spent summers in the Atlantic coastal town of Neptune Beach, Fla., where the bulk of the film was shot, capturing a portrait of life that is slowly disappearing in the state. “When it came to specifically showing these places, I was very observant in the sense that they were chosen because they are kind of the last remains of the old Florida. … each time I go back, everything is more and more different.
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