Movie Breakdown: Come True

Pre-Screening Stance:

Come True is the latest entry into the IFC Midnight lineup. I missed writer/director Anthony Scott Burns’ last effort, 2018’s Our House, but I heard good things about it and I’m looking forward to checking out this creepy-looking film.

Post-Screening Ramble:

I sleepily watched Come True pretty late at night, which turned out to be both the right and wrong way to view it. The film follows Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone), a seemingly troubled teen who spends her days and nights actively avoiding her mother. Why Sarah is ducking her parent is never explained, but you do see that it’s completely screwed up her ability to get any sort of rest, as she spends her evenings either in a playground or, if she’s lucky, at a friend’s house. To alleviate this issue, she signs up for a sleep study, which will give her a steady to place to go every night. At first things are good, but then they start to go sideways when Sarah discovers that Jeremy (Landon Liboiron), a cute boy she keeps running into, actually works for the sleep study, and that said sleep study is using a machine that allows them to see what she’s dreaming.

Up until this point, I was really with the film, and then – perhaps on purpose – it gets very dream-like. Sarah and Jeremy and the weird, nightmarish imagery that’s floating about intertwines into a slow paced, hazy thing and by the time it all start to ramp up in the final act, I was having a hard time figuring out whether or not I had dozed off and imagined much of the middle portion of the film. Where writer/director Anthony Scott Burns showcases his talent though is that he’s able to tie it all together – everything he actually put on the screen and what my own brain plugged into place – and the end result is pretty worthwhile.

Come True isn’t perfect – you really do have put in some serious effort to stick with it – but the film is cleverly crafted and worth checking out. It’s set to be released in select theaters and on VOD this Friday, March 12.

One Last Thought:

I don’t think I’d ever sign up for a sleep study. I mean, I love sleeping and I’m generally a good sleeper, but the thought of having people watch/monitor me while I do it is pretty unsettling.