Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb and Charlize Theron appear in "Sleepwalking."

Relentlessly downbeat, with a glimmer of a payoff in the last couple of scenes, "Sleepwalking" is a film that has indie written all over it -- for better and for worse.

Certainly, it would be difficult for a major studio to promote a movie about an 11-year-old girl and her simple uncle, on the lam after the girl has been abandoned by her mother.

You can see the quandary. What to play up in the ads? The mother's desperate attempts at finding men? The girl and her uncle running away from social services? The visit to the abusive grandfather? Actually, you'd probably concentrate on Charlize Theron, who plays Joleen, the mother and also producer of the film. Or perhaps Dennis Hopper, suitably bizarre as Mr. Reedy, the grandfather -- even though neither he nor Theron is in the film all that long.

But it would also be difficult for a major studio not to meddle with "Sleepwalking" -- not to demand more action, a faster pace. Nothing if not patient, the film definitely takes its time developing the relationship between the girl, Tara (AnnaSophia Robb), and her uncle, James (Nick Stahl). So while it's great that Bill Maher (not the comedian), in his directorial debut, felt no pressure to rush things, occasionally you wish that he had.

Joleen is 10 miles of trouble. No stranger to the local cops, she is obviously not a candidate for mother of the year -- a fact of which Tara is painfully aware. Yet Tara is devastated when Joleen leaves her behind, promising to be back in time for Tara's birthday. That leaves Tara in the care of James, who could stand to be in the care of somebody himself.

James is what can best be described as slow. Not much goes right for him; it's no surprise that social services takes Tara from him. But soon the two are on the road. Tara's never been to a farm, so James figures that visiting his father, Mr. Reedy, might be an interesting diversion. That's one way of putting it. Reedy picks up where he left off with James, treating him like the idiot he believes he is. Tara fares no better. Along the way, though, James and Tara forge a bond.

To say that they're both down on their luck is, of course, to understate the case considerably; Joleen has that kind of King-Midas-in-reverse vibe going on, so that everything she touches turns to -- well, the opposite of gold. Both Stahl and Robb are good. Stahl's character is particularly tricky -- without at least the small hope of redemption, he would be merely pathetic. Yet Stahl never lets him descend to that.

The strength of "Sleepwalking" is that James and Tara's relationship, their trust in one another, is not easily won. It means more that way. While it may sound contradictory, the film's weakness is that it takes so long to get there.

Bill Goodykoontz / Gannett News Service