48
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70VarietyNick SchagerVarietyNick SchagerAided by Christopher Blauvelt’s sumptuous cinematography, this consistently surprising film slinks along with melancholic dreaminess, matching the fugue state that plagues its grief-stricken protagonist.
- 67The PlaylistThe PlaylistOverall, State Like Sleep is a satisfying movie about grief and an unsatisfying mystery.
- 60Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayLos Angeles TimesNoel MurrayThe mix of genres and the overload of characters are too much of a drag on the film. Waterston, though, is a wonder throughout, capturing the deep confusion as a woman whose life has been so upended that she wonders if she’ll ever see straight again.
- 50IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichMeredith Danluck’s State Like Sleep doesn’t really go anywhere, but it lulls you into enough of a stupor to enjoy the time it takes to get there.
- 50Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyScreen DailyDavid D'ArcyThere is not enough in the performances or the script to set it apart from the constant flow of indie crime dramas.
- 50The New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe images serve the dialogue, but they are not given a chance to expand the story, depriving the movie of texture and energy. Danluck dives with Katherine into the depths of grief-stricken obsession, and her film suffocates for want of room to breathe.
- 50TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanTheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanDanluck (“North of South, West of East”) gets us halfway there, with a solid cast and crew, an apt depiction of emotional exhaustion, and a heroine we want to root for in a strange setting we’re ready to embrace. But she floats too ineffectually between dream and nightmare, never settling on one or committing to the other.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreI’d say writer-director Danluck’s story unravels entirely too easily, but that’s crediting her with “raveling” that she never quite gets around to.
- 42The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe whole thing aspires to art, but can really only be appreciated as trash.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeDanluck's unfocused direction makes Katherine less a grief-struck enigma than a dull somnambulist; and the film's copious flashbacks, instead of drawing us into the character's confused emotions, mostly suggest that the film can't decide how to tell its story.