Wonderfully moody thriller
Added 9/15/2009
The Bottom Line:
Willem Dafoe is great as a drug dealer reexamining his life amid a waste collector's strike in a hot New York summer (another of Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader's disaffected protagonists in alien urban landscape) in Light Sleeper, an underlooked drama with an interesting character arc and a conclusion that some find incongruous but I find perfect; if you like character studies (and well-directed ones at that) you could hardly do better.
3.5/4
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Great Movie, Poor DVD
Added 2/27/2009
This is a brilliant film. The raw, humane, unvarnished look at the life of a mid level drug dealer in Manhattan is uniquely captivating, and Willem Defoe plays the part to perfection. The story itself is underwhelming, common, real. The protagonist's struggles through life are much like anyone else's. Anyone else's in New York, at least. But the context of his life, the rhythms of it, are very different. The random encounters with love and violence touch him as arbitrarily as they touch each of us, and he reacts to them with the same confusion, elation, and pain. This is the film's genius, and it allows an unusually close emotional bond to develop between the protaganist and the audience.
Unfortunately, the DVD is poorly executed at best. It has been chopped without care to the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, which destroys much of the mood of the film. For example, when Willem Defoe reaches out to touch his ex-girlfriend's mothers' foot while she is in the hospital, his hand is cut in half awkwardly on the edge of the screen. Everything is too close up, the characters do not have enough space around them as the edges of the film have been clipped, this changes the detached feeling of the cinematography which is important for the film's effect.
The audio track is just terrible. Especially in the first 1/4 of the film much of the dialogue is garbled and difficult to make out.
Five stars for the film, one star for the DVD.
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Didn't work.
Added 11/30/2008
This review is just for the digital download of this film that I attempted via Amazon. I needed to watch this film for a class and after purchasing the rental it did not work. To Amazon's credit, they contacted me after I sent customer service and email and refunded my money, however the service clearly has issues.
But thanks Amazon for listening!
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Hidden Treasure for film fans
Added 8/26/2005
The previous reviews of this film are great, so I won't praddle on - just want to add a couple notes. Though I'm a Schrader fan and film buff, I was never aware that this "Trilogy" existed and enjoyed this film on its own. This film is not Taxi Driver, one of the greatest American films ever made, but it also does not carry the over-bearing weight of that film, and can be "enjoyed", with an anti-hero which we can more readily identify. The style is minimalist with great visual touches and choices by Schrader (with some moments that are quiet but extremely revealing), fun dialogue and interesting characters. The subtext dealing with aging drug dealer DeFoe's insomniac character LaTour, confronting his "lost dreams" as the "garbage" of his past piles up (set against a New York waste haulers' strike) is compelling and strong thematically. Anybody over 30 who's given a moments thought to their life's choices and where they're going can identify. Sarandon and Delaney are in top form. Yes, the ending is a bit forced with some over-violence and a bit of a leap in logic (the relationship between DeFoe and Sarandan is not established well enough to warrant his expressions at the end). Still, great film any fan of existential cinema should appreciate. By the way...DeFoe's character is named John LaTour - Latour was the name of the Marquis de Sade's valet!
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Its climax seems to belong to another movie
Added 5/20/2005
John LeTour (Willem Dafoe) is a recovered drug addict who spends his lonely life drifting around the city by night, delivering drugs for his boss, Ann (Susan Sarandon). He worries about his future, but he is firmly enmeshed in a lifestyle from which escape does not seem like a realistic option. A bit of hope creeps back into his life when he encounters an old flame (Dana Delany) from his days as a user and the possibility of rekindled romance becomes his lifeline. This is a very low-key film for most of its length, but its climactic explosion of violence provides a jarring change of pace that plays as if writer/director Paul Schrader couldn't figure out how to end the film. Delany's character is rather off-handedly changed from a figure with real dramatic purpose to a mere plot point that sets up the justification for a bloodbath. The performances are excellent and Schrader is a talented filmmaker, but he falters here./
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Wonderfully moody thriller
Added 9/15/2009
The Bottom Line:
Willem Dafoe is great as a drug dealer reexamining his life amid a waste collector's strike in a hot New York summer (another of Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader's disaffected protagonists in alien urban landscape) in Light Sleeper, an underlooked drama with an interesting character arc and a conclusion that some find incongruous but I find perfect; if you like character studies (and well-directed ones at that) you could hardly do better.
3.5/4
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Great Movie, Poor DVD
Added 2/27/2009
This is a brilliant film. The raw, humane, unvarnished look at the life of a mid level drug dealer in Manhattan is uniquely captivating, and Willem Defoe plays the part to perfection. The story itself is underwhelming, common, real. The protagonist's struggles through life are much like anyone else's. Anyone else's in New York, at least. But the context of his life, the rhythms of it, are very different. The random encounters with love and violence touch him as arbitrarily as they touch each of us, and he reacts to them with the same confusion, elation, and pain. This is the film's genius, and it allows an unusually close emotional bond to develop between the protaganist and the audience.
Unfortunately, the DVD is poorly executed at best. It has been chopped without care to the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, which destroys much of the mood of the film. For example, when Willem Defoe reaches out to touch his ex-girlfriend's mothers' foot while she is in the hospital, his hand is cut in half awkwardly on the edge of the screen. Everything is too close up, the characters do not have enough space around them as the edges of the film have been clipped, this changes the detached feeling of the cinematography which is important for the film's effect.
The audio track is just terrible. Especially in the first 1/4 of the film much of the dialogue is garbled and difficult to make out.
Five stars for the film, one star for the DVD.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Didn't work.
Added 11/30/2008
This review is just for the digital download of this film that I attempted via Amazon. I needed to watch this film for a class and after purchasing the rental it did not work. To Amazon's credit, they contacted me after I sent customer service and email and refunded my money, however the service clearly has issues.
But thanks Amazon for listening!
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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