Sleep Dealer

Sleep Dealer takes place in tijuana,Mexico, in a not so distant future.The world is heavily militarized, the boarders are closed and there's a global computer network to which people connect(trough nodes in their skin) that makes several kind of experiences possible like upload of memories and cyber labor.When Memo, a young man, accidentally gets his father killed; he decides to go to the city and look for a job. Soon he decides to get nodes implanted...Sleep Dealer is a very legitimate take on the future by the director Alex Rivera and at the same time it deals with some interesting issues like globalization,immigration and the coexistence of humans and technology.Obviously since this is a low-budget movie, the special effects are not impressive and a bit dated but that shouldn't keep you from enjoying this flick.The acting is average, what is truly great here is the premise,the inspiration behind all of it and the very smart concept of the movie. With a big budget and more resources this movie could had been truly amazing. Having said that, if you're a fan of sci-fi movies this is definitely a must-see.

7/10

This is one of those movies that you watch and slowly "connect" to its reality. Many people disliked that. It was either to slow compared to most of the movies today or too intense an experience to people that don't like the feeling of immersion into something else. However, from what I am sitting, it was a great movie.

First of all, one must take a step back from the usual reviewer practice and take into account that all the actors in the movie are Mexican and so is the writer/director. I don't know what budget the movie had, but it was well done in acting, atmosphere, plot, details and special effects. Winning the Sundance festival (and not being about crazy people) should also count in its favor.

Second of all, I really enjoyed the movie. It has the feel of films like Blade Runner, only it hits really closer to home. Luis Fernando Peña was a real good choice for the main role, even if it wasn't a very challenging one. As in many good movies, the main character was the idea, the plot, and the actors were just slipping into their niche.

Bottom line: this is a sci-fi movie that needs to be seen. Whatever faults it has, they are far surpassed by its qualities. The social message is just as important as the vision of a future where we can have whatever we wish for, only that we wished wrong. See it. It is worth it.

Well, the above reviewer beat me to my warning: If you are some god forsaken film student, or "Hollywood" film buff, you will hate this film. The structure is open and allows for a great deal on viewer interpretation that most US film goers hate, and even fear. But I love, I love the director giving me images and direction, and then letting fill in some inferences and this not clearly delineated.

The film makes excellent cinematic use of cultural and social cyphers, and (I hate to say this almost for fear of "tainting" it; a slight magical realism to cast a wide net of meaning, not to tell some stupid plot arc formula. It is a brilliant, exciting, deeply satisfying movie (finally some one is talking abt these issues cinematically, and making a great movie), and I even found it fun. A well crafted daring film.

Rarely does science fiction cinema depict the future of the 'third world', if at all. Alex Rivera's film, primarily set in the state of Oaxaca and the city of Tijuana, Mexico, certainly proves originality in its premise and vision of the future. But while Sleep Dealer's inventive depiction of the future of human labor, immigration and transnational borders is extremely interesting and thought provoking, Rivera fails to achieve engaging storytelling. The plot feels flat and characters seem one dimensional. Both actors remain unconnected with each other and the story. Their actions, at times, seem unmotivated and contradictory. I understand how this film could have been so much more, unfortunately it wasn't. Aside from director Rivera's critique on social and political progress, the story fails to break through.

Frankly, I admire Rivera more for his social, political and progressive vision rather than for his cinematic skills. The film, in the end, feels rough around the edges and leaves a bit to be desired…But still a good effort from a first time director, especially for such an ambitious project.

6 out of 10.

I liked the film and think it deserves more than a 6.2 so I gave it a high score to try and bump up it's overall score. It deserves about an 8. A really good film that tries to deal with the idea of a dehumanized black economy working for an ever increasingly fascistic USA. Some interesting idea's, some not so interesting. It definitely has a cyberpunk feel but being from Mexico it was always going to be different.

I am unsure of the budget but the film holds it's own and the sfx budget seems to have been spent wisely. The acting was good with the lead and support actors being enjoyable enough to watch. I also liked the score which was essentially Latin pop/dance.

The ending is a little unrealistic given the portrayed future realism of the rest of the film. A good film that is not the greatest sci-fi ever but deserves higher marks considering the obstacles the production team faced. A low budget, sci-fi drama from Mexico is not something you see everyday so it should be applauded.