It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"The Awakening" is an American 8-minute black-and-white live action movie from 1990, so this one will soon have its 30th anniversary. The writers are Nacho Cerdà and Ethan Jacobsen and these two also directed together with Francisco Stohr. All 3 of them also play minor parts in here. For Stohr it is almost the only career effort here, while for Jacobsen, it actually is the only, but Cerdà went on to have a big career afterwards as a filmmaker after this, his first filmmaking credit. It is the story of a young student who is in class, falls asleep and when he wakes up time seems to stand still actually around him. What is going on? My guesses are he was dreaming, he had died or it was something biblical even going on. Wait until the final scenes and you will find the solution and I was correct indeed (no surprise obviously), but I won't tell you with which of these theories. All in all, the execution was pretty good here I'd say and I enjoyed watching this one. I am not too familiar with Cerdà's other stuff, but I see some nice vision here and an uncompromising approach to difficult plots and premises. The execution was impressive at times and I think this is among the best the year has to offer in short films. I think I have seen some of his other stuff (Cerda's), 1 or 2 other short films only, but that did not impress me too much as this one here did. I highly recommend checking it out. The music and atmosphere are memorable too. Highly recommended and I am also glad they did not stretch this past the 10-minute mark. Very essential film at its core, very convincing and most big name directors (Scorsese etc.) can only dream of starting their careers with a rookie effort as excellent as this one we got here. Also the title is interesting as we understand that in the filmmakers' minds what happens to the protagonist in fact has him enter reality finally with everybody else still being stuck in fiction and the female approaching him in his situation makes it look as if there is no need to be sad or depressed, not as the character, not as a viewer, as this one here brings salvation and happiness to him. See it, you won't need subtitles either as there is no dialogue included here or at least none you need to understand to understand the film.

This is one of those strange little films that's actually better the longer you leave it if I had written this review i like the majority of people would have given this a 4 rather than a 7 and that 4 would have been based solely on the technical aspects of the short. Now a couple years after having seen it images from this film haunt me (and not in the way Aftermath does). This isn't so much a film as it is a series of beautiful fantastic images that occasionally make you question the basest of things. All in all a gem if you realize not to take it at face value or look at it simply for plot. One of Cerda's more approachable pieces of work and really a great spring board for anyone's career.

A struggling student falls asleep in class, whilst staring at the pyramid on a dollar bill. When he wakes up, he finds that time has stood still; the other students and the teacher remain motionless, as the teenager wanders around the classroom, confused by his bizarre predicament.An early 8 minute black and white short by Spanish director Nacho Cerdà, Awakening, with its confident direction and interesting imagery, certainly shows that its creator has talent. However, it is not a completely successful venture due to a few unanswered questions (the relevance of the pyramid is never explained), a rather predictable ending (that has been used many times before in other movies), and less than stellar acting from its lead.Cerdà does manage to create a nice creepy and surreal atmosphere, and his handling of the 'frozen in time' scenes are extremely well done, but I really wish that the story had been on a par with the film's technical aspects.

A not-so-bright highschool student falls asleep in class after receiving a failing test grade. When he wakes up, all time has frozen-- except for him. All clocks are stopped, and everyone around him remains stuck in the position they were in when this event occurred. This clever little movie is superbly acted and directed, but it neglects to explain things required to know in order to fully appreciate it. Still, the film's whole creepy freeze-frame atmosphere was portrayed very effectively.