What am I going to wear tomorrow? Do I have to pee? Remember that embarrassing thing I said to my crush on December 9, 2017 at 10:15 a.m.? If thoughts like this race relentlessly through your head at night, Alice In Somnia is the short film for you. An ode to anxiety-havers everywhere; this quirky comedy written by Bree Doehring and directed by Emma Debaney is cute, cringey, and oh-so-relatable.
Alice In Somnia is a whimsical tale that takes place in a dreamlike state between consciousness and sleep. In this short film, that hard-to-describe spot takes the form of a proverbial “waiting room” — one in which so many insomniacs spend their nights. We learn that it’s the eve of a big job interview for our main character, Alice (Bree Doehring), and she — desperate for some shut eye — is forced to relive some of her most embarrassing memories, greatest fears, and biggest insecurities. All this in the hopes of reaching her final goal: sleep.
Guiding her in her quest is a “sleep attendant” who appears in the guise of a no-nonsense receptionist, played by Kobi Libii. The attendant informs Alice that she has to complete a virtual mountain of paperwork and complete tasks dutifully assigned by an invisible narrator with an ominously saccharine voice. The instructions are daunting: Things like list every fear you have ever had and every fear you fear you might one day fear. Even the simplest tasks, such as the request to simply breathe, prove difficult for Alice — and she starts hyperventilating in an effort to do it right. It sounds high-intensity, but it’s actually quite silly and fun.
Doehring and Debaney do a great job of creating a world that lies somewhere between fantasy and reality. It’s real enough to be relatable, but surreal enough to keep you entertained and engaged. It’s high-anxiety, for sure, but at 12 minutes long it’s enough to bear without being overwhelming. And the character of Alice is charming enough that you’ll find yourself rooting for her to reach her final goal until the very end.