Before I Go to Sleep Review
RYAN: I love Nicky Kidman and I really loved her in the horror film The Others; and while this one isn’t horror, it’s a thriller – so I’ve been very much anticipating it. And we’re on such a roll for good movies lately. I just loved this film. If you’re a Nicole fan, like me, you’ll love this, too. It’s such a brilliant role, for any actor.
CAROLINE: I like her too. Not quite as much as you but she is Satine from Moulin Rouge, after all. This is the movie where she’s basically amnesic every morning.
RYAN: It’s a like the thriller version of Groundhog Day, or in some ways, because of differentiating days, almost like Memento in some respects.
CAROLINE: Both very good movies.
RYAN: And can I say aside from her stringy hair and her red-veiny eyes, Nic looks amazing in this movie, as does Colin Firth as her husband and Mark Strong as her therapist.
CAROLINE: We interviewed Mark Strong once on the red carpet. He’s so nice.
RYAN: I couldn’t love him more. He’s one of my favorite actors. I loved his scenes with Nicole. This movie is hyper-Hitchcokian. It’s chilling and twisty and so suspenseful. It very much has the atmosphere of a horror film, like a ghost story, though it’s not. It’s a real thriller. It puts the thrill in thriller, seriously. It’s a great mystery and puzzle. Actually, watching this movie almost felt like playing a game. I love to try to figure out and jump ahead to what’s going to happen and every single time here I was wrong. Love that – smart script.
CAROLINE: That is fun. You’re usually really good at predicting and figuring things out.
RYAN: I just kept thinking how excited she must have been reading this script for the first time. Nic has had such diversity among the roles in her career and this is one of the juiciest roles of all for her. I love how she just had to play suspicious the whole time. It really puts you on edge. The one question that I had was what if she woke up i the middle of the night, just having to use the bathroom quickly? There’s a whole routine she went through with her husband each morning to acclimate. Who really always sleeps the whole night through?
CAROLINE: (laughs) No kidding!
RYAN: So as long as you don’t think about that – and LBH, let’s be honest, some of the best movies require some serious suspension of disbelief.
CAROLINE: Truer words…
RYAN: Some of the scenes also have some cool edge that almost feel like Stephen King’s The Shining. I was really impressed by the design and how it contributes to making you feel on edge. Even the house they live in does that.
CAROLINE: That’s very cool. So obviously you really enjoyed this one.
RYAN: This is a movie I will want to own on Blu-Ray. It gave me the full on chills a couple times. Some moments are disturbing and brutal to watch but I really was so into it.
