Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Sleeping Giant

Play trailer 1:28 Poster for Sleeping Giant 2015 1h 29m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
87% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Three teens spending the summer on the shores of Lake Superior test their limits to escape boredom.

Critics Reviews

View More
Liz Braun Toronto Sun 04/07/2016
4/5
Everything changes over a single summer for the kids in Sleeping Giant, a superb coming-of-age story set in Northern Ontario. Go to Full Review
Peter Howell Toronto Star 12/10/2015
3.5/4
Not just the best Canadian movie of 2015, but one of the year's best films, period. Go to Full Review
Barry Hertz Globe and Mail 10/02/2015
Cividino creates a volatile, captivating and singular look at adolescence, wholly free of the sanitized antics of Hollywood. Go to Full Review
Monica Reid Far Out Magazine 08/28/2018
3.5/5
Sleeping Giant draws the viewer in despite the bland subject matter, making every character intriguing and maintaining suspense and the feeling of impeding trouble perfectly. Go to Full Review
Jason Anderson Cinema Scope 01/30/2018
Sleeping Giant comes far closer than most teen-centric dramas to conveying the damage that young people can inflict on each other as they constantly jockey for power... Go to Full Review
Alex Heeney Seventh Row 08/14/2017
It's a film grounded in place that never quite finds its footing in plot. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Gerardo O. @Jerry_12 Aug 4 The best possible outcome for a coming of age indie movie. Great performances, raw visuals, and fulfilling yet mellow storyline. See more Dave S 11/04/2022 Strangely enough, Sleeping Giant's greatest asset (the always reliable coming-of-age story) also turns out to be its greatest weakness (the seen-it-before coming-of-age story). Set on the shore of Lake Superior in northern Ontario, Adam is a shy and insecure fifteen-year-old spending his summer holidays with his parents. After befriending a pair of cousins, both prone to abhorrent behavior, his demeanor begins to undergo significant changes. On paper, Sleeping Giant sounds wonderful. However, the cousins are so consistently repugnant, especially the younger of the two, that it's difficult to feel anything for them other than disgust. If you can get over the cousins' considerable negative traits, it's worth watching for the performance of Jackson Martin as Adam and the opportunity to see some beautiful scenery. See more Brian K @Briankeith3 09/01/2022 A very good, small, Canadian film about 3 teen guys coming of age, during one summer in Northern Ontario cottage country (outside Thunder Bay). A purposefully loose -- but fast paced -- plot fits teen boys experiences of having a good time, questioning and fitting in, and developing other relationships, adding up to a very Canadian, but universally accessible, film. Very high quality production values and strong acting throughout, adds to a very worthwhile film experience. The ending works, as summer ends and teenage freewheeling years transition to adulthood with harder and longer-term consequences. Note: For a French-Canadian perspective on teenage coming of age in the summer at lake/woods, a slower-moving but similarly very effective movie is the 2022 Falcon Lake, based on a graphic novel. (mostly French, with subtitles) See more 05/13/2019 Coming-of-age films are amongst my favorite types of films, but they are often tricky to make. A good film, should give you feelings of nostalgia and form a bond between yourself and at least one of the characters, while a bad one can seem to be nothing more than an episode of Jackass. This film has a bit of both. Sleeping Giants is the story of three teenage boys, spending the summer with their families on Lake Superior and as you might expect, circumstances bring them together. There are some funny moments, trouble to be had, and of course a girl who gets in the middle of everything. What this film has going for it, is that the cast was actually teens, ones whom have very limited acting experience. That being said, it seems as though, the writers also have somewhat limited experience, as this film is your very standard, text book, run of the mill story. What you'd expect to happen in this situation is exactly what happens, and while I like the fact that the story features real teens and new faces, the truth is that nobody really stands up or shows anything more than just kids hanging out. That could honestly be the title of this film, kids hanging out. Sleeping Giants isn't bad in any way, but it's nothing special either, an all-around forgettable experience. See more @itsgregsworld 12/03/2018 This movie is really good. But, it has a bizarre homoerotic edge that never really goes away. Well filmed and acted. See more 07/22/2018 Excellent and moving film. Had elements of Harmony Korine's Gummo and Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher (two other strong films). Sleeping Giant was a little more accessible than those, which was OK for me because it still had a lot of grit and several beautiful scenes. See more Read all reviews
Sleeping Giant

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Sweaty Betty 89% 46% Sweaty Betty Watchlist Here Are the Young Men 38% 38% Here Are the Young Men Watchlist TRAILER for Here Are the Young Men Beneath the Harvest Sky 62% 64% Beneath the Harvest Sky Watchlist The Heirs 67% 22% The Heirs Watchlist Drift 80% % Drift Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Three teens spending the summer on the shores of Lake Superior test their limits to escape boredom.
Director
Andrew Cividino
Producer
Andrew Cividino, Marc Swenker, James Vandewater, Aaron Yeger
Screenwriter
Andrew Cividino, Aaron Yeger
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Runtime
1h 29m