Anton Pardoe, Roselyn Sanchez, and Patrick Bauchau star in this nightmarish film noir about a tortured soul who returns to the city he vowed to leave behind in order to save the woman he knows he can never have. He was a ruthless killer whose disregard for his own life and devotion to the luminescent beauty Porphyria earned him the nickname "The Mad Monk" by his fellow assassins. But that was ten years ago, before he decided to make a break from his violent past. Now Porphyria is in danger, and
the only man who can help her is the man who intended to disappear forever. There are men in this city who have been awaiting his return since the day he left, men who would relish the opportunity to watch him die slowly. At the forefront of this diabolical group is the formidable villain named Nikolai -- a man who not only raised the so-called Mad Monk, but may be his biological father as well. Now, as the man with no name returns to the city that never forgives, the guns are drawn and the mystery deepens. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
There are shadows on top of shadows. It's the film noir universe, all right. What does the title refer to? Perhaps to what you will enjoy during the film.
Easy on the eyes but brutal on the ears, The Perfect Sleep fuses Shakespearean tragedy and noir iconography into a strange, lovely, leaden ball of confusion.
The disjointed story is no more comprehensible than The Big Sleep. Though Alter is no Howard Hawks and Pardoe and Sanchez are no Bogie and Bacall, this movie looks great. You won't nap through The Perfect Sleep.
Style significantly trumps substance in The Perfect Sleep, a good-looking but convoluted homage to film noir, Russian literature and Shakespearean tragedy, among a few too many other things.
Unfortunately, Alter's often inventive work is kneecapped by a deliriously nonsensical script, which misses the mark as both over-the-top parody and straight-faced homage, and could have been intended as either.
might not strictly be novel, or original, or even entertaining - but it cuts to something quintessential about cinema, as if to say: with visuals like these, what does it matter?
Nothing makes much sense in this ridiculously high minded narrative, but the emptiness is brimming with intensity and attitude, along with some inspired night vision footage and dialogue delivered as over the top self-serious soundbites.
The well-chosen supporting cast also deliver with especially sharp turns from Sanchez, Bauchau and Amendola who act this script as if it were Shakespeare.
A noisy and violent thriller, a plot that becomes absurd with too many characters and none of them with much depth. Tedious at times, methodical and empty. Unpleasant.
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