Light Sleeper

Paul Schrader's finest film to date, and firmly lodged in my top 10, this is a surprisingly overlooked and underrated gem. Often touted as a "modern noir" movie, I really don't consider it in that genre at all.

The heart of the film is a reworking of the themes embodied in Schrader's earlier film "American Gigolo", where a man is forced to confront the fact that the life he is leading is fundamentally unsatisfying, reassess what he wants to do, find out who his real friends are and ultimately get redeemed through love.

Willem Dafoe's character Le Tour's journey is a slow but inevitable one, as his drug-dealing days are numbered due to his boss Susan Sarandon (also splendid) "going straight". Most of the scenes take place at night (hence the noir tag), but this is partly a consequence of the drug-dealing aspect and partly to capture the unreal mood of a man who doesn't know where he fits in to "normal" life. The device whereby Le Tour spends many hours writing his thoughts in an exercise book, throwing it away when he fills it, then starting another one, is so strong and startling that I put aside my usual dislike of narration. The soundtrack is also excellent and fits and expands the mood very well.

The best scene is probably the one in the hospital cafeteria, where Le Tour has a conversation with his ex-girlfriend that he hasn't seen for a long time - immaculately acted, tremendously understated with so many things going unsaid... The final scene, although Schrader nicked it from a French film, and used it before in "Gigolo", is still very powerful, based on the idea that whether a man is in prison or not is completely unrelated to whether he is free.

When the subject of modern noir films is discussed, there are always a small group of films that is mentioned. "The Last Seduction", "Blood Simple", "L.A. Confidential", etc. All worthy selections in their own right. Even better, I think, is "Light Sleeper", which is a noir film right down to the core of its being. Taking place almost entirely in afterhours Manhattan, it's the story of John LeTour (Willem Dafoe), a drug courier who works for Ann (Susan Sarandon), delivering cocaine to upscale clients. LeTour wanders around the city, chauffered about in a black sedan by a silent driver named Carlos. It's a lonely existence, one that has "noir" written all over it. But this isn't a shallow or violent or ironically self-aware redux of noir films. Much like another recent Schrader-scripted film, this plunges right into the heart of the story, not standing back at all, undetached. Unlike other recent noir films, such as "The Usual Suspects", this film's soul lies not in convoluted twists and turns, but in redemption. LeTour spends the film searching for a meaning to his life, looking in the wrong place, and eventually finding meaning and hope in a somewhat unlikely place. But in the end, he realizes that it's all he has left to hang onto. A beautiful film.

Critics often rag on Paul Schrader for writing films about scumbags who find violence a shortcut to salvation. The conventional wisdom is that Schrader's scripts play better if Martin Scorsese directs them (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and that when Schrader directs Schrader, the result is a heavy, humorless mess. But that's not always true. In directing his own Hardcore and American Gigolo or scripts written in a darkly witty vein (Nicholas Kazan's Patty Hearst, Harold Pinter's Comfort of Strangers), Schrader can be slyly inventive. Crowd pleasing? No. Challenging? You bet.

It's difficult to imagine anyone but Schrader controlling the moral turbulence in his script for Light Sleeper, a boldly resonant thriller that elaborates on Schrader's favored themes of sin and redemption. John LeTour, a drug dealer played by Willem Dafoe, is a loner with direct connections to Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle and American Gigolo's Julian Kay. At forty, LeTour is in crisis. His boss, Ann (a fireball Susan Sarandon), is about to chuck drugs for cosmetics. LeTour is losing his coke customers to crack. And he is spooked by a psychic, strikingly played by Mary Beth Hurt. But in his diary (one of several tips of the hat to Robert Bresson's seminal Pickpocket), LeTour writes, "I can be a good person."

Maybe so, but transcendence doesn't come easy. New York's mean streets, given a noirish sheen by cinematographer Ed Lachman, tempt LeTour as he drives through the night making deliveries to the sleek and the sleazy. He is heartened by a chance meeting with Marianne (Dana Delany), an embittered former love and former addict who lets down her defenses for one night. (Warning: Hearing Delany announce, "I'm dripping," during a hot sex scene with Dafoe may be too much for China Beach fans.) As expected, violence erupts before things settle down. Schrader is out there again, testing the limits of audience tolerance. Good for him. Buoyed by his questing spirit and Dafoe's mesmerizing performance, Light Sleeper might just keep you up nights.

Like "Prince Of The City", this is another great drug movie, with the greatest set ever built for a movie, New York City. Very few people saw "Prince", and I'll wager fewer saw this one. It has a cast of New York stage actors, who make the usual run of Hollywood anorexic barbie dolls, and Sunset Strip would be tough guys, look exactly like what they are, refugees from some "hysterical" wise cracking sit-com. I have to mention each one of these artists because they're so incredibly good. Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany (what a performance), David Clennon, Mary Beth Hurt, Jane Adams(the looney sister from "Happiness"), David Spade, and last, but certainly not least Victor Garber. Paul Schrader wrote and directed, and if he never does another production, his mother can know that she gave birth to a major cinematic artist. The story can impress people as very hokey. Dafoe is a coke pusher. But he's very sensitive and loving, and is looking for a "better life". He's so guilt ridden as a pusher, he can hardly sleep. Oh, give me a break. But wait. With Dafoe I bought it completely. I was even rooting for him to get back with his former junkie lover Dana Delany. Delany and Susan Sarandon give major performances, Sarandon as a major supplier also looking to go straight as a cosmetic maven. This is a major manual on acting....look, learn, and enjoy.

"Light Sleeper" is a great and very effective yarn that follows John LeTour (Willem Dafoe), a drug trafficker/former addict who seems miserable and lonely while bringing drugs to users in the Big Apple. LeTour's life is put to the test when he finds out from Robert (David Clennon), that their boss, Ann (Susan Sarandon), is finally switching to cosmetics instead of drugs and an old flame, Marianne Joseph (Dana Delany), comes to town to visit her ailing mother. The movie moves at a steady pace and doesn't get ugly until the fierce and bloody shootout near the end of the movie. I must note that I'm a big fan of Dafoe and the strong (and moving) performance that he gives here is why I admire him a lot.

The film's photography, shot by Ed Lachman ("The Limey", "The Virgin Suicides"), is nothing short of brilliant and beautiful. In the early moments of the film, there are several small piles of garbages that nearly cover up the sidewalks and the bottom of the street lights. Dafoe, who also narrates the movie, mentions that there's a strike. Also, the musical score that's composed and performed by Michael Been, is good to listen to and it stayed with me during the whole film.

Paul Schrader (who directed the movie and wrote the screenplay) knows very well how to handle the film here with a simple and wise approach. Most of his earlier (and recent) work, dating back (and now) to the screenplay(s) that he wrote for Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and "Bringing Out The Dead" and one of his own films - "American Giglo" make great examples of anyone who works at night and feels agitated. "Light Sleeper" itself has to be one of Schrader's best films for sure.