I feel that a lot of movies that are not in the Hollywood spotlight do not get their due. Especially independent films, which can be some of the greatest films ever made and/or develop a cult following. The kind of movies where actors go to the darkest areas of life to be able to see through the lens of the characters they are portraying, and these are the kind of films that some actors and writers do their best work but unfortunately it is overlooked in the mainstream movie business. I think a lot of independent studios have been making their mark in recent years. They don’t want to be censored or watered down by Hollywood. They want to avoid being politically correct, and I feel that these writers and directors want to tell the story the way they want to fucking tell it. No matter how uncomfortable it may be to people nowadays. This film was one of those uncomfortable stories.

Written and directed by Ryan Lacen in his solo film debut, capturing the raw and unnerving struggles of drug addiction, which is not for the faint of heart unless you have been down that road yourself. Starring Melissa Barrera, from the 2022 installment of Scream and the follow-up Scream VI and the recently released Abigail. The movie is centered around the main character Chama, a young woman in New Mexico who loved working on old cars with her grandfather who taught her everything he knew about old cars and struggles to find a paying job as a full-time mechanic who is doing all she can to raise her daughter and not follow in the footsteps of her own mother. She tells herself she can keep her shit together and that she can make her daughter happy. The film focuses on addiction being generational, meaning if your family has a history of any kind of addiction, there is a 50/50 chance that you will be an addict as well. Chama was trying to break the cycle of generational addiction for the sake of her daughter, but she soon realizes that is a tougher challenge than she bargained for.

I’ll try not to do too much spoiling, but there were a couple of elements in this film that really stood out to me. The first was Chama and her best friend Toaster. There was a saying that an old friend of mine had told me when I was growing up, and that was, “You are who you hang out with.” Toaster was totally oblivious to the real world and the consequences of her actions because she had everything taken care of for her by her father and lived up to the theory of “I can quit whenever I want, just not today!” As Toaster and Chama smoke meth out of a piece of aluminum foil. Chama found Toasters’ lifestyle illuminating and became envious of Toasters’ circumstances because Toaster never needed to worry about anything in her life. Enabling Chama to void her responsibilities as a mother to her daughter to go get high with her best friend.

The second was the symbolism in the warning signs around Chama. In the first 10 minutes of the film, Chama drops her daughter off at school and goes to a job interview, and sadly, the owner sees the condition of Chama and notices the signs of her addiction and says he can’t afford to hire anyone with the way the economy was going. Despite having a “now hiring” sign on the door of the oweners office. Soon after, she starts breaking down from withdrawal and goes to her regular spot to get her fix. There is an urban legend that was told to Chama by her grandfather when she was young. Her grandfather said, “If you find a black feather, it’s a warning.” Chama walks into the drug den and sees the feather on the floor and turns around and exits the drug den but quickly changes her mind and goes back in and gets high. After the first hit she takes from that foil, she lays down on a mattress on the floor, and black feathers start falling down on her, covering up her entire body. That was the point where no matter how many warning signs there were, she still did it anyway.

I have a soft spot for films like this because I am the son of an addict and although I did not inherit that addictive gene, I think it’s interesting to see the road someone has to take to find that road to redemption and revelation, and it’s a rough one. What was your rock bottom? How did you get out of that rock bottom? What changed this time around? For Chama, unfortunately, she was overdosing in the bathroom on her daughter’s birthday and having her daughter taken away by the state. That sent Chama into a downward spiral of more guilt and depression and coping with the situation the only way she knows how. After a hard binge with Toaster, Chama realizes that she has to get her daughter back and that she needs help. After trying 3 treatment facilities, she has to detox on her own at home. This is where the film gets really dark and unnerving. Showing all the pain and torture from the aftermath of the drug abuse and the drug detoxing from her body to heal itself and realizing what she did to herself for all those years, and she is finally paying the price from all the abuse, and that’s just the short version of it. I compare it to the detox scene in 1995s The Basketball Diaries when Leonardo Dicaprio’s character is detoxing the herion out of his system.

After an argument with Toaster and realizing she can’t do the healing by herself and in need of real professional help, resisting every urge, she has to take a hit from that piece of foil Toaster was trying give Chama and Chama kept refusing to take a hit. Once Chama got through hospitalized detox, she runs into Nick on the street, a rehab counselor from one of the 3 rehab clinics she previously tries to check herself into, who is willing to give a helping hand after a former patient leaves the facility in a rage and a spot opens up for Chama. Nick quickly became my favorite character in the film because he has seen and done it all. 12 years of sobriety and experience and willing to pass on his experience to others and willing to hear people open up with no judgments on his end because he knows that he is no better than anyone else in that room and he can fly off the handle as quickly as anyone else in that facility. Sometimes, something as little as hearing someone out came make all the difference in someone’s life and potentially save their life. Nick had some smart tools to help these women in that facility get well and tools to keep them together in the future, which I thought the symbolism to his methods was very unique, but I won’t spoil it, you have to see it.

In conclusion, this was a very interesting and heavy film. As I mentioned earlier, throughout the film, Chama keeps telling herself, “I will keep my shit together, I will make my daughter happy” when she was at her darkest still fucking up, the one thing she never realized is that how the fuck can you help someone find their happiness when you’re not happy with yourself. You have to help yourself first before you have the capacity and the wisdom to help someone else, and this goes especially for children of addicts. As the son of an addict, kids are much smarter than some parents give them credit for. They see things, and they feel the tension in their environment. They know something is wrong in that environment until they see the actual ugliness of your parents’ actions. In the opening scene you see, Nevaeh, the little girl playing by herself in the living room, talking to her teddy bear who seemed to be her only friend while Chama is in the other room high with a lit cigarette in her hand not knowing what Nevaeh is doing to where it gets to the point where Nevaeh becomes self-reliant, getting herself to and from school and feeding herself. When you’re stuck in a whirlwind of drugs, the light at the end of the tunnel is very dim. Some are fortunate to see it and chase it and see that light become brighter or you fall into complete darkness where all you see is black with no way to escape that abyss unble to see that helping hand in front of you. What will you chase?

My final verdict of All the World is Sleeping is a real and ugly adaptation of the common addict while coming from a place that is very human and not only thought-provoking but very emotional. The acting is top notch very human. It broke barriers for the actors and tested limitations of their acting abilities with a detailed story that was not watered down and needed to see the consequences of said actions of people that are struggling with this issue. A lot of people want help. They just don’t know who to turn to or where to go or feel judged for what they have done. Go see this movie. It’s on all streaming platforms for rent or purchase.

Thanks for reading.