critics consensus

This poetic and tender portrait of a Welsh village is a slow moving yet elegantly accomplished British documentary. Read critic reviews

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Sleep Furiously Photos

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Movie Info

The filmmaker journeys into a world of endings and beginnings; a world of stuffed owls, sheep and fire.

Genre:

documentary
Original Language:

English
Director:

Gideon Koppel
Producer:

Gideon Koppel, Margaret Matheson
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 15, 2011
Runtime:

1h 34m

Cast & Crew

Gideon Koppel
Director

Mike Figgis
Executive Producer

Serge Lalou
Executive Producer

Gideon Koppel
Producer

Margaret Matheson
Producer

Aphex Twin
Original Music

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Sleep Furiously

Critics Consensus: Cowboys and Aliens is All Mixed Up

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Critic Reviews for Sleep Furiously

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (8)

It is dull, spectacularly dull but it is also peculiarly compelling, affecting, atmospheric and sublime. It's like a poem which, on the surface, may not look up to much but can still instantly evoke and, dear readers, let me tell you this: I was evoked.

August 29, 2018 | Full Review…

Deborah Ross
The Spectator
Now more than ever we need films such as this: grave, measured, subtly comic and beautifully wrought, free of polemic and yet offering a new way of seeing that is as old as Arcady.

July 6, 2018 | Full Review…

John Banville
Sight and Sound
"Sleep Furiously" is a lovely film, but maddeningly complacent.

August 11, 2011 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Ultimately, the first impression given - of a place both familiar and strange - is the only impression offered. It's not enough.

July 29, 2011 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Rachel Saltz
New York Times
Gideon Koppel's free-form portrait of a Welsh farming community may be the most subtly poetic piece of cine-anthropology to come down the pike in eons.

July 27, 2011 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Fear
Time Out
A lingering, mildly lyrical look at village life.

July 26, 2011 | Full Review…

Michelle Orange
Village Voice
Zzzzz...

November 14, 2011 | Rating: 1/5

Phil Hall
Film Threat
Sleep Furiously returns again and again to this idea of transition: seasons change, cows go out to pasture and come in for milking, piglets are born, lambs follow their mothers as dogs herd them. Farming traditions are dynamic.

September 8, 2011 | Full Review…

Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
A paean to a way of life that, regardless of Dylan Thomas' furious injunction, is going gently into that good night.

July 29, 2011 | Full Review…

Rex Roberts
Film Journal International
Beautifully shot but more than a little sterile.

July 29, 2011 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Vadim Rizov
Boxoffice Magazine
A certain polite withholding, even if it masks some firm conviction or desire, seems to be a coin of the realm in Trefeurig, so it may well be apt that Koppel often films in a register very close to this one.

July 28, 2011 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks
If you love Dylan Thomas (who doesn't?), then you will love this film.

July 28, 2011 | Full Review…

Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews

View All Critic Reviews (28)

Audience Reviews for Sleep Furiously

Jul 09, 2010

a documentery set in rural wales and a small village there, with no narration to speak of, just folk going about there day and lives, and for for what it is, its pretty watchable, no explosive moments, just simple tales, the doc runs nicely, and sets up the people nicely for who they are

scott g Super Reviewer
Dec 21, 2009

Lyrical , poetic, impressionistic picture of rural Welsh life which oozes warm emotion from every frame. Ode to a way of life that is disappearing day by day. That feeling of sad nostalgia never overwhelms the director, though and he has crafted a thing of beauty.

Gordon A Super Reviewer