Light sleeper
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Light sleeper |
| Original title | Light sleeper |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1992 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Schrader |
| script | Paul Schrader |
| production | Linda Reisman |
| music | Michael Been |
| camera | Edward Lachman |
| cut | Kristina Boden |
| occupation | |
| |
Light Sleeper is an American film drama from Paul Schrader from the year 1992 with Willem Dafoe and Susan Sarandon .
The film tells of a drug courier working in New York , whose encounter with a former girlfriend triggers a chain of tragic events.
action
John LeTour is one of two couriers for drug trafficker Ann, who specializes in New York in delivering to well-heeled customers, especially in the financial and banking sectors. LeTour suffers from insomnia and a lack of purpose in life. Ann, on the other hand, has been thinking for a long time about getting out of the drug business and trading in cosmetic products instead.
One night LeTour meets Marianne Jost, with whom he had a long, but self-destructive relationship that was marked by drug use. Although neither of them take drugs anymore, Marianne doesn't want to start the relationship again. LeTour learns that Marianne's mother is in intensive care. Finally he and Marianne spend a night together; without knowing it, her mother dies in the hospital during this time. When LeTour attends the funeral service, Marianne beats him and tells him to get out of her life.
Meanwhile, LeTour is targeted by the police. A young woman who was in contact with Tis, a Swiss customer of Ann, died. With the next delivery he meets Marianne in Tis' apartment, who is obviously under the influence of drugs. Shortly afterwards she falls to her death. LeTour gives the police a tip where Marianne was immediately before her death.
When Tis again orders a drug delivery from Ann and insists that LeTour deliver the goods, Ann suspects that Tis wants to eliminate him. Ann asks to come with her, but Tis' bodyguards force her to leave the suite. An exchange of fire ensues in which LeTour kills Tis and his bodyguards, and he himself is injured.
In the last scene, Ann visits LeTour in prison who feels liberated and wants to change his life. Their conversation suggests that Ann will be waiting for LeTour.
background
Production and film launch
The production cost was estimated 5 million US dollars . Since the financing was not completely secured when production started, but Paul Schrader had already signed Willem Dafoe and Susan Sarandon, he financed the first three weeks of the pre-production phase from his own assets. Light Sleeper was the first of several films by Schrader and Dafoe that he met while filming Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ .
Schrader originally wanted to use songs by Bob Dylan from his album Empire Burlesque in his film. Since he and Dylan could not agree, Schrader opted instead for compositions by Michael Been .
Light Sleeper premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1992, and the film opened in American cinemas on August 21, 1992. The box office income in US cinemas was around one million US dollars. The film opened in Germany on May 12, 1994.
Wim Wenders congratulated Schrader in a telegram for his film and rated his directorial work as being on par with that of Ozu Yasujirō , the Japanese filmmaker admired by both directors . In a 2005 interview, Schrader described Light Sleeper as his most personal film.
theme
For Schrader, after Taxi Driver and Ein Mann, Light Sleeper was the third of his so-called “A Man in a Room” films for a few hours : “The main character has gotten older as I've gotten older. When he was in his twenties, he was angry. In his thirties he was narcissistic. Now he's forty and he's worried. I think times have gone through a similar development. Among other things, I tried to combine a personal and a social development in it. I think we live in very troubled times, and the main character corresponds to that. "
Reviews
“Schrader knows this world of insomnia, longings and addictions. And he knows the people who live in their own cocoons. […] In one film after the other, year after year, Schrader told this story in one way or another, but never with more humanity than here. "
"[...] a small but engaging, mood-spreading work [...] even if the film doesn't take shape properly, Willem Dafoe's grim, gripping performance captivates you."
"[...] style-conscious film noir [...] But the story winds its way and is so reminiscent of Taxi Driver and Ein Mann for certain hours that Schrader is anything but new variations on well-known themes."
“The film of the crime film serves as a means of transport for the story of redemption and the search for grace. The desired 'transcendental style' turns out to be an end in itself, feigning spirituality without being really spiritual. Because of its depth of content and the performance of the main actor, the film is still convincing overall. "
Awards
Willem Dafoe won the 1995 Sant Jordi Award for best foreign language actor. Paul Schrader and cameraman Edward Lachman were nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in 1993.
DVD publications
Light Sleeper is available on DVD in the USA and many European countries . In contrast to the first edition of Momentum, the British new edition of the company Optimum no longer contains the audio commentary by Schrader and his actors Dafoe and Sarandon. These are available on the Kinowelt / Arthaus DVDs released in Germany .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Interview ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. with Paul Schrader on Filmmakermagazine.com .
- ↑ Audio commentary by Paul Schrader on the DVD edition of Light Sleeper , Kinowelt Home Entertainment, 2006.
- ↑ Light Sleeper in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ a b Light Sleeper in the Lexicon of International Films .
- ↑ Interview with Paul Schrader on The Hollywood Interview , first published in Venice Magazine , November 2005, accessed November 6, 2011.
- ↑ "The character has gotten older as I've gotten older. When he was in his twenties he was angry. When he was in his thirties he was narcissistic. And now he's forty and he's anxious. I think that the times have changed similarly. Part of what I've tried to do with this character is mix a personal evolution with a social one. I think we are in very anxious times and this character is appropriate. ”- Interview ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. with Paul Schrader on Filmmakermagazine.com , accessed November 2, 2011.
- ^ "Schrader knows this world of insomnia, craving and addiction. And he knows all about people living in a cocoon of themselves. [...] In film after film, for year after year, Paul Schrader has been telling this story in one way or another, but never with more humanity than this time. "- Review by Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times , 4. September 1992.
- ^ "[...] a small but absorbing mood piece [...] even when the film doesn't gel, one is held by Willem Dafoe's grimly compelling performance." - Review by Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly , August 28, 1992.
- ↑ "[...] stylish film noir [...] But the story meanders, and it echoes Taxi Driver and American Gigolo so closely that Schrader is working less than fresh variations on over-familiar themes." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out Film Guide , Seventh Edition 1999, Penguin Books, London, 1998.
Web links
- Light Sleeper in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Light Sleeper at Rotten Tomatoes (English)