Tags:
Film: We Put the World to Sleep
Year: 2025
Director: Adrian Tofei
Writers: Adrian Tofei and Duru Yücel
Starring: Adrian Tofei, Duru Yücel and Erisse Peterson
Review:
This was a film that I was intrigued to check out at Nightmares Film Festival. It was on day three that it was shown. It was at this film festival years back that I saw co-writer/director Adrian Tofei’s first film, Be My Cat: A Film for Anne. I dug what that was doing with the eeriness on the found footage angle. I’ve kept seeing updates for this one so I didn’t want to miss it.
Synopsis: Adrian (Tofei) and Duru (Duru Yücel) get lost in the characters they play in an apocalyptic film. They embark on a secret mission to end the world for real.
Now where I’ll start is giving credit to this filmmaking team. It starts out with someone getting on Letterboxd, looking up We Put the World to Sleep. There are title cards that help give more information as we dive into things. It starts though with Adrian and Duru talking about how they were making this film about ending the world, then got so lost in them that they truly decided to make it happen. They’re getting information from Andreea (Andreea Enciu), who believes she has discovered CIA information.
It is from there that our characters try to figure out who they truly are. Duru starts to believe that she is a robot that, if it can obtain singularity, could wipe out humanity. This spirals her into an existential crisis. Adrian doesn’t want to end life, but does think that if he helps Duru, it could fulfill what he thinks is best for people. There is also another film within this, where Adrian starts to wonder if he’s truly the psychopath that he played in Be My Cat. He is going as far to creating a room that is a shrine to Richard Ramirez.
This truly bends meta commentary as acting in a film causes our characters to lose themselves in their characters, trying to figure themselves out before it is too late.
Now that is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that this film isn’t going to be for everyone. There isn’t a lot that truly happens. This is a character study that is interesting because you don’t know how much you can trust. Both of our lead actors here do an excellent job at losing themselves in what they do, then questioning what is reality. There is a surreal quality to it.
With having that set up, I do prefer the straighter forward Be My Cat. The film has an eerie, mockumentary feel, showing a psychopath creating what he believes is a masterpiece to attract Anne Hathaway to his movie. Adrian stated the film blends 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Blair Witch Project. While it doesn't achieve the philosophical depth of the Kubrick film, it successfully captures the descent into madness as one struggle to comprehend reality.
I will then say that this is carried by the acting. Tofei and Yücel have excellent, manic chemistry, constantly derailing each other's set paths and shifting perspectives. Their dynamic as a married couple enhances this constant shift in sanity. Credit is also due to Erisse Peterson, Enciu, Danha Yunes, and Tofei’s mother, Dorina; in this found footage format, they convincingly feel like real people.
I’ll then end this trip with discussing the filmmaking aspects. This is filmed again in the style of found footage. There is a manic nature that works so well with that. It feels dangerous seeing how far into their madness these characters have gone. The most disturbing is Adrian in his Ramirez room. We see how much that bothers Duru. The editing is good here. There’s a hyper element to that as well. Other than that, the sound design helps with the realism of how this is shot. I appreciate that as well.
In conclusion, this is a challenging, meta-commentary on acting and sanity that won't appeal to all viewers due to its deliberate lack of action. However, its strength lies in its intense character study, powered by the manic, convincing performances of Tofei and Yücel. While I prefer the straightforward eerie realism of Tofei's previous work, Be My Cat, this film successfully uses the found footage style to create a dangerous, surreal descent into madness, where the line between character and actor is perpetually blurred. With solid editing and sound design enhancing the realism as well as its ambitious psychological horror.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10