| Light Sleeper [Region 2] |  | Director: Paul Schrader
Actors: Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany, David Clennon, Mary Beth Hurt
Category: DVD
Buy New: $38.48
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 247187
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060049140155
ASIN: B000087I23
Theatrical Release Date: 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
This compelling 1992 drama is often cited as the third film in writer-director Paul Schrader's trilogy of "nocturnal alienation" that includes Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (which Schrader wrote) and American Gigolo. Like those other films, this one deals with a solitary man who works almost exclusively at night, and the film immerses us in the rhythms and psychology of his lifestyle. In this case, Willem Dafoe plays a cocaine addict who has kicked the habit that almost killed him, but still delivers drugs to clients for a dealer (Susan Sarandon) who dreams of opening a legitimate cosmetics business. He meets an old lover (Dana Delany) who fears he will draw her into their old life of drug abuse, but that proves to be the least of their worries. Simultaneously sad, funny, and fascinating, the film inevitably leads to the outburst of violence that has become a kind of signature in Schrader's work. It lacks the visceral impact of Taxi Driver, but few directors can match Schrader's gift for creating fully realized characters on the fringes of a society to which they don't quite belong. Insomnia, in Schrader's world, is a condition suffered by those whose dreams remain elusive, just beyond their grasp. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Great Movie, Poor DVD February 27, 2009
C. Lambright (NYC)
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.
 Didn't work. November 30, 2008
Forza Italia 2007
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!
Hidden Treasure for film fans August 26, 2005
Max Zorn (Chicago)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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!
Its climax seems to belong to another movie May 20, 2005
David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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./
Paul Schrader grows into being something of an optimist April 13, 2005
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The irony is that while an obvious case can be made that the best way to appreciate Paul Schrader's 1992 drama "Light Sleeper" is to have seen the previous two entries in his "nocturnal alienation" trilogy, "Taxi Driver" and "American Gigolo," those comparisons are the Achilles heel for the film as well. The commonalities between the angry young Travis Bickle, the narcissistic Julian Kay, and Willem Dafoe's John LeTour are obvious since they are loners with a variety of night jobs. But what is more important is the way Schrader's archetypal hero has progressed over the course of these three films to the point where this last version is able to take stock of his life and realize he is actually looking forward to something in his life.
This is rather difficult for LaTour because the omnipresent fact of this film is that his past is close behind. Although he has stopped doing drugs, he does deliveries for his boss lady, Ann (Susan Sarandon), who keeps threatening to go legit and do cosmetics rather than sell drugs. The other person delivering drugs to Ann's upscale clientele is Robert (David Clennon), and he is interested in changing careers too. So far the change is just all talk but LaTour starts wondering about his own future and does not see much of one. When he is not "working" he spends his time filling up stacks of composition books while drinking wine. He has tried being an actor and dreams of being a musician, but apparently has not noticed that he is actually a writer.
The catalyst for change becomes a couple of chance encounters with his old girl friend, Marianne (Dana Delany), who does not really want to remember the good times they shared when they were both addicts. She is back in town to sit by the bedside of her dying mother at a local hospital and LaTour becomes captivated by the idea that she represents the road not taken and an opportunity for him to change his life. But even though he is able to get back into her bed and have a moment of sheer happiness, Marianne cannot see him as a good future. For her, he is only a reminder of a bad past, and although his heart and motives are pure he is a slippery slope for her despite his best intentions.
The problem is that at the moment of crisis it is hard not to see Schrader's film as returning to territory quite similar to the final reel of "Taxi Driver." I liked the optimistic revelations of LaTour's final speech in the film, but how we get from the film's low point to the prospect of a happy ending somewhere down the road is missing the necessary causal connections to make the conclusion truly fulfilling. Fortunately the performances cover the narrative gaps as Schrader spins his little morality play about the decline and fall of the drug culture. There is never really a point where Dafoe's character is a bad person and the same can be said for Sarandon's as well, while it is Delany whose character jumps the rails when she is being asked to anchor another person's life. "Light Sleeper" is the weakest part of this faux trilogy, but it has value both as that last act and on its own terms.
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