Light Sleeper

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Light Sleeper

R

1992

1h 48m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

44 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A Manhattan drug dealer with a wealthy clientele, John LeTour reevaluates both his trade and his life after discovering that his supplier, Ann, is planning on quitting the business. When John runs into his old flame Marianne, he sees reconnecting with her as a way to change for the better, but she is reluctant to rekindle the romance. Complicating John's life further is a series of drug-related murders that has the police pegging him as a suspect.

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Critics Consensus

Light Sleeper requires patience, but delivers commensurate rewards -- and boasts an absorbing performance from Willem Dafoe.

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Hugo Davenport

Daily Telegraph (UK)

May 20, 2022

American filmmakers have a weakness for presenting a shoot-out as either the precursor of redemption or redemptive in itself; this film falls into the latter group.

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

Feb 28, 2021

The cast is skilfully alert... and Schrader's vision is unencumbered either by sentiment or cynicism.

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Sep 9, 2014

3/4

Light Sleeper is emblematic of an era, and is recommended on that basis and on the excellent quality of it acting.

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Steve Warren

Southern Voice (Atlanta)

May 9, 2023

Though well acted and never uninteresting, Light Sleeper is far less intense than most of Schrader's work and further diluted by an unrealistic ending.

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Mitchell Beaupre

Paste Magazine

Sep 23, 2022

10/10

From that opening use of “World on Fire”, Been’s vocals and melancholic, somber tones feel as rooted in the essence of Light Sleeper as Dafoe’s razor-sharp bone structure, or those heaps of trash bags lining the sidewalks.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Jun 30, 2022

3.5/4

...an erratic yet predominantly satisfying effort from Schrader.

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Jerod S

@jeroduptown Jul 31, 2026

Dafoe is trying to get out of the drug biz, but things are going wrong all around him - including Dana Delany flying out a window.

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Farah R.

@Farah May 15, 2026

Light Sleeper isn’t the film I expected it to be. It’s a slow-paced noir with a great soundtrack and brilliant cinematography that captures 90s New York City instead of a thriller-esque drama exploring a drug dealer’s life. It gets dull at times but not bad enough to stop watching.

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James A

@Droz27 Mar 3, 2026

I didn't know you could make a coke dealer's life seem so dull and depressing. So little happens in this film, I kept waiting for something but it never came. Susan Sarandon is completely unconvincing as a Kingpin. Dafoe is interesting to watch but has nothing to do. The trash piling up was a good visual metaphor, but that was the highlight lol.

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Les N

@Vegas628 May 29, 2025

Dated. At the least it needs a new soundtrack.

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Johannes S

@johnny_cecotto_15 May 27, 2025

While it is predictable, the story is still enjoyable, and the runtime of 100 minutes is perfectly adequate.

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Alain E

@AlainE Dec 1, 2024

A contemporary fable that is well acted and photographed. I don’t have any experience in dealing drugs, so I can’t claim to have a valid opinion deciding if the story presented is realistic. It serves the movie well and various people find a premature end as is appropriate in a tragedy. My only objection is a medical one. When Dafoe is shot in the end we see blood spurting away from his upper right arm. This is impossible as the main artery in the arm travels on the inside of the upper extremity and is not big enough to generate such a jet.

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Paul Schrader

Director

Willem Dafoe

John LeTour

Susan Sarandon

Ann

Dana Delany

Marianne Joseph

David Clennon

Robert

Mary Beth Hurt

Teresa Aranow

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Light Sleeper: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A Manhattan drug dealer with a wealthy clientele, John LeTour reevaluates both his trade and his life after discovering that his supplier, Ann, is planning on quitting the business. When John runs into his old flame Marianne, he sees reconnecting with her as a way to change for the better, but she is reluctant to rekindle the romance. Complicating John's life further is a series of drug-related murders that has the police pegging him as a suspect.

Director: Paul Schrader
Producer: Linda Reisman
Screenwriter: Paul Schrader
Distributor: Fine Line Features
Production Co: Grain of Sand Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 21, 1992, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.0M
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Mono

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