AWAKE is a new Netflix sci-fi thriller with a brilliantly basic premise: What if everyone on Earth lost their ability to sleep all of a sudden? Everyone is constantly awake. Those few who still appear to be capable of going asleep, of course, become frighteningly valuable in the search for a cure.

The question then becomes: who can work on the treatment while not getting any sleep? In a matter of days, the entire world has become desperate and, quite literally, insane. Most people can relate to sleep deprivation in some manner, which makes this Netflix sci-fi thriller eerily relevant in the worst possible way.

We’re not built for staying awake

As someone who (usually) falls asleep easily, I can relate to how desperate I feel on a night when I struggle to fall asleep. Now, imagine everyone on Earth (almost!) is struggling with suddenly being awake non-stop. All while being desperately tired and quickly struggling with basic tasks and simple logic.

It’s an extremely dangerous situation. Also, the event that trickers this “constant awake”-state is accompanied by a complete shutdown of electronics. When it happens, so many accidents occur and everyone is focused on this. Right until the moment when they need to sleep.

Or actually, at the hospital, they discover the problem earlier on; The concept of being unconscious is now also non-existent. That means you can’t give people pain relief with anesthesia. Even coma patients wake up when this event happens. In other words, there are now two states of being; On or off. Or to be blunt: Awake or dead!

The journey and ending of Awake just works

With a runtime of just 93 minutes, we follow the main protagonist from the beginning until the end. It’s both her journey and the journey of her family. This means lots of actors are shown in surprisingly small roles since we keep moving forward. The main character of Jill (Gina Rodriguez) would typically be played by a man, but works even better here as a woman.

Even the ending of Awake worked really well for me. It both makes sense and is an answer to everything. Sure, it might be a little heavy-handed, but I know many people want and need definitive answers from movies.

Overall, Gina Rodriguez works extremely well as Jill because the portrait of this woman is nuanced and honest. Also, her kids are played by the young and wonderful Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters) as the girl who can still sleep. And Lucius Hoyos who plays her tough and angry, but still loving, teen son.

Watch Awake on Netflix now!

Mark Raso is the director of Awake with the screenplay written by both Joseph Raso and Mark Raso. The actual story is by Gregory Poirier who has worked on stories in all kinds of genres before. The filmmaker brothers previously also worked within various genres but they’ve definitely got a knack for focusing on relatable characters.

This is the third feature film from Marc Raso after debuting with Copenhagen in 2014 and following up with the Netflix movie Kodachrome in 2017. With Awake, Marc Raso has a true mainstream movie on his hands. One that could easily be compared with the Netflix megahit Bird Box. Like that particular movie, Awake also features many familiar faces.

Other actors in small roles in this Netflix sci-fi movie are Frances Fisher (Watchmen series), Barry Pepper (Crawl), Finn Jones (Iron Fist), and Gil Bellows (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark). Also in a key role, we see Jennifer Jason Leigh who co-starred with Gina Rodriguez in Alex Garland‘s Annihilation.

Be sure to check out Awake for a solid 93 minutes of entertainment. I just might watch it again!

Awake is out on Netflix from June 9, 2021.