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Light Sleeper
A solid cast delivering some terrific performances help to keep a 1992 crime drama/character study called Light Sleeper watchable though it is eventually weighed down by an air of pretension and confusion over the story.
Four time Oscar nominee Wllem Dafoe stars as John LeTour, an upscale drug runner in Manhattan who is forced to re-assess his life when he learns his bosses (Susan Sarandon, David Clennon) are getting out of the business. Trying to figure out what he wants to do next is complicated when John reconnects with an ex-girlfriend and client (Dana Delaney).
Paul Schrader, a writer whose impressive resume as a screenwriter includes Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Affliction definitely gets an "A" for effort in terms of trying something different. We've seen a lot of movies about drug dealers, but we've never seen a story centered around someone at this level...we've seen 12 year old dealers in films like Fresh and we've seen kingpins like Nino Brown and Tony Montana, but we've rarely seen the guys in between before. John's clientele is upscale and he actually goes to wherever customers are to hand-deliver. He is actually observed making on delivery in a hospital waiting room, but his position in the pecking order isn't really made clear, When the film began, I thought he was working for Sarandon's character, not the other way around.
Schrader the director works a little too hard at trying to establish a dark atmosphere. He makes a major point of setting this story during a garbage strike in Manhattan, resulting in a lot of scenes of characters walking behind blocks and blocks of garbage that I guess is supposed to symbolize this dirty world these people are supposed to be part of. Drug dealing is a dirty business, we get it. I was also bothered by the fact that LeTour keeps telling people throughout the film that he's clean now...he's stopped using, but nothing else about his life has changed.
The only thing that kept me invested in this somewhat convoluted story were the superb performances by Dafoe, Sarandon, and a surprisingly explosive turn from Dana Delaney that was a real eye opener. Dafoe fans will enjoy this more than the average movie viewer, for which this one is pretty rough going. A disappointment considering the pedigree of the writer and director.
A solid cast delivering some terrific performances help to keep a 1992 crime drama/character study called Light Sleeper watchable though it is eventually weighed down by an air of pretension and confusion over the story.
Four time Oscar nominee Wllem Dafoe stars as John LeTour, an upscale drug runner in Manhattan who is forced to re-assess his life when he learns his bosses (Susan Sarandon, David Clennon) are getting out of the business. Trying to figure out what he wants to do next is complicated when John reconnects with an ex-girlfriend and client (Dana Delaney).
Paul Schrader, a writer whose impressive resume as a screenwriter includes Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Affliction definitely gets an "A" for effort in terms of trying something different. We've seen a lot of movies about drug dealers, but we've never seen a story centered around someone at this level...we've seen 12 year old dealers in films like Fresh and we've seen kingpins like Nino Brown and Tony Montana, but we've rarely seen the guys in between before. John's clientele is upscale and he actually goes to wherever customers are to hand-deliver. He is actually observed making on delivery in a hospital waiting room, but his position in the pecking order isn't really made clear, When the film began, I thought he was working for Sarandon's character, not the other way around.
Schrader the director works a little too hard at trying to establish a dark atmosphere. He makes a major point of setting this story during a garbage strike in Manhattan, resulting in a lot of scenes of characters walking behind blocks and blocks of garbage that I guess is supposed to symbolize this dirty world these people are supposed to be part of. Drug dealing is a dirty business, we get it. I was also bothered by the fact that LeTour keeps telling people throughout the film that he's clean now...he's stopped using, but nothing else about his life has changed.
The only thing that kept me invested in this somewhat convoluted story were the superb performances by Dafoe, Sarandon, and a surprisingly explosive turn from Dana Delaney that was a real eye opener. Dafoe fans will enjoy this more than the average movie viewer, for which this one is pretty rough going. A disappointment considering the pedigree of the writer and director.