Directing trio RKSS, aka François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell took the indie genre scene by storm back in 2015 when they released the fantastic Turbo Kid. They followed that film with the gritty coming-of-age thriller, Summer of 84, in 2018. Now, after a five-year hiatus, the team are back with not one, but two new films. The first is We are Zombies, which has the prestige of opening this year’s Celluloid Screams festival. The second, Wake Up, has just screened at Sitges.
Written by Alberto Marini, Wake Up sees a group of Gen Z activists come under attack by a deranged security guard after they break into a home department store after dark. Falling somewhere between a slasher film and – in an odd way – a home invasion story, Wake Up has plenty to keep the viewer invested. From the opening moments in which the group infiltrates the store during opening hours, Wake Up commands attention. For an instant their intentions are unclear, and as they deviate from the expected ‘teens go partying’ behaviour, the group become even more intriguing.
Their mission is to create awareness of the terrible business practices of the company whose store they are inside. The company perpetuates the concept of being eco-friendly, but in reality they do more harm than good. Similarly, their rise has created a stranglehold for smaller businesses. The plan is simple: destroy the store and demonstrate their power, whilst raising awareness of the company’s toxicity. Although named as ‘Home Idea’ that this store looks an awful lot like Ikea, is not lost on the viewer. The construction of the production and set design is exceptional. Wake Up looks every inch like it was filmed in Ikea, that it was not is hard to comprehend; the visuals look that authentic.
Another key aspect of Wake Up is its ambiguity. Depending on the viewer’s outlook on life, both the activists and the security guard can be viewed as the protagonist or antagonist. It is an interesting way to explore a story, and serves to highlight how broken society has become. Were these warring factors to sit and converse, they would realise the true enemy is Home Idea. Instead, they are left to hack one another apart.
The violence, though not quite as intense as Turbo Kid, is inventive. The directing trio have dreamed up some wickedly entertaining methods of dispatching one’s enemy. Wake Up’s violence unfolds in a hunter-prey setting. Security guard Kevin (Turlough Convery) is a keen back-to-basics huntsman, and takes great delight in finally being able to put his hobby into practise. The hunt theme is continued by the appearance of the activists. In order to maintain their anonymity, each of the group are clad in a different colour, geometric animal mask. Each choice of animal also reveals something more about the character underneath. This is a key inclusion as there is little time to properly get to know them before the story has raced off.
Wake Up is also wonderfully shot. The camera angles and movement help to cheat the idea that the store is never ending. Certain compositions help generate a sense of geography for the narrative, which helps make it so hard to believe that the crew didn’t just sneak into an Ikea store to shoot. In addition to some clever camerawork, there are also some beautiful flourishes of colour. The first pop comes via the animal masks, the second in a stunning sequence involving UV paint.
A very different beast to Turbo Kid, Wake Up is a more intimate and serious genre film. This change in tone proves that the directing trio have plenty more stories in them. The story here is tricky; its ambiguity encourages exploration. On top of this, the production values are faultless, and the visuals sing, making this modern slasher shine.
Wake Up
Summary
After Turbo Kid and Summer of 1984, the team of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell have branched out in yet another direction and managed to make it as exciting as their other titles.
Wake Up was reviewed at Sitges 2023.
