Quirky 20something romantic comedy became stock-in-trade for indie filmmaking during the ‘90s and the easy-to-sell theme of creative youth seeking love endures into the new century. In Wake, a quirky indie romcom with a unique twist, Carys (Bijou Phillips) attends the funerals of strangers, not from morbid desire but to heal her emotional disconnection. She sits in the last pew and cries, trying to feel the sadness around her, to share the grief. Turns out her shallow if well meaning parents permitted no funeral when Carys’ sister died, imploring her to “let go of negativity” and “move on.”
On one level, Wake testifies to the need for an organized, ritualized process of grieving. But since this is a quirky American indie and not a European art house film, life and death are less the issue than finding one’s soulmate. Carys discovers hers at a funeral when she bumps into Tyler (Ian Somerhalder), the handsome young fiancé of the deceased. She pretends to be a friend of the dead woman, making up stories as she goes along and getting deeper and deeper into a daft deception as the two young professionals fall in love.
Wake is a slender, modestly amusing story buoyed by the performance of its star. Phillips has a pert, zany make-you-smile aura reminiscent of a young Goldie Hawn. Directed by Ellie Kanner (who has worked in network television as well as indie filmmaking), Wake is out now on DVD.
