Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating Nocturnal Urban Desperation
Review: Willem Dafoe (John) is a reformed junky with a conscience, delivering drugs for an upscale dealer played superbly by Susan Sarandon (Ann). John works dispassionately during the night and without anything to believe in, visits psychics, to try to give meaning to the life he sees changing as Ann trys to go legit with a cosmetics business. Not having saved much and not having another trade, John senses a climax coming; he doesn't know in what form it will appear, but he's not backing away from it. Women associated with the main drug buying client are dying, apparent suicides and when the last one has a very personal connection to John (Dana Delany - very well acted although the character isn't developed sufficiently), it sets up the violent climax to the movie. John almost welcomes the outcome as his dispair worsens and jail or death wouldn't be an unwelcome change. The direction is uniquely Shrader. The characters are very well actualized (with the noted excption above). The performances are amazing which should come as no surprise considering the professional abilities of all. The mood remains constant while the soundtrack suits the movie without appealing excessively to only one generation as many do. The visuals as shown in the subdued and grainy colors enhance the overall impact this movie has. This movie is more about a life style than plot driven. The characters are all in denial about the changes in the world to which they need to adapt if they want to survive. It addresses survivorship of those who didn't plan the next phase of their life very well, have been getting by on their wits, but are finding a changing world no longer respects the decreasingly marketable skills those wits once represented. While not an uplifting movie, it stays with you and is definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Nocturnal Urban Desperation
Review: Willem Dafoe (John) is a reformed junky with a conscience, delivering drugs for an upscale dealer played superbly by Susan Sarandon (Ann). John works dispassionately during the night and without anything to believe in, visits psychics, to try to give meaning to the life he sees changing as Ann trys to go legit with a cosmetics business. Not having saved much and not having another trade, John senses a climax coming; he doesn't know in what form it will appear, but he's not backing away from it. Women associated with the main drug buying client are dying, apparent suicides and when the last one has a very personal connection to John (Dana Delany - very well acted although the character isn't developed sufficiently), it sets up the violent climax to the movie. John almost welcomes the outcome as his dispair worsens and jail or death wouldn't be an unwelcome change. The direction is uniquely Shrader. The characters are very well actualized (with the noted excption above). The performances are amazing which should come as no surprise considering the professional abilities of all. The mood remains constant while the soundtrack suits the movie without appealing excessively to only one generation as many do. The visuals as shown in the subdued and grainy colors enhance the overall impact this movie has. This movie is more about a life style than plot driven. The characters are all in denial about the changes in the world to which they need to adapt if they want to survive. It addresses survivorship of those who didn't plan the next phase of their life very well, have been getting by on their wits, but are finding a changing world no longer respects the decreasingly marketable skills those wits once represented. While not an uplifting movie, it stays with you and is definitely recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Willem Dafoe: Major Romantic & Erotic Dream Figure
Review: Writer-director Paul Schrader delivers his most satisfying film for me. He is even better known for his work when he solely screenwriters, such as for his unsurpassed "Taxi Driver," directed by his frequent collaborator, Marty Scorsese. For his own solo film though, this is my favorite. Schrader's film work is frequently compared to the late Robert Bresson's films. However, Bresson has always been a little too painterly for me. Schrader is painterly enough and to make it any more so evokes that dreaded word in film: slow. I frankly prefer this film to the Bresson films I've seen, which makes me a film heretic I realize. Urban alienation is at the core of this film, which is true of all Schrader's work, and Willem Dafoe plays a nocturnal drug dealer who doesn't get much sleep (hence the title), probably because his dreams remain so elusive from his grasp, as a metaphor for the overall film. Two women present the immediate conflict in the film. Susan Sarandon plays a drug dealer who Dafoe works for and she tells him that they both need to get out of dealing. She plans to open a legitimate cosmetics business and seems capable of following through on the idea. She is the most in control of her life of the three main characters. Dana Delany plays Dafoe's former lover, who doesn't want anything to do with him because they were substance abusers together in the past. Although he's clean now, he still deals. But is her character as squeaky clean as she now proclaims to be? Dafoe needs to figure that out. Further tension comes about from the eroticism between Dafoe and Delany plus the growing potential for eroticism between Dafoe and Sarandon. Dafoe is absolutely wonderful in this film and becomes a major romantic and erotic dream figure for the viewer regardless of what the viewer thinks of him vis a vis the two women.
Rating:
Summary: Willem Dafoe: Major Romantic & Erotic Dream Figure
Review: Writer-director Paul Schrader delivers his most satisfying film for me. He is even better known for his work when he solely screenwriters, such as for his unsurpassed "Taxi Driver," directed by his frequent collaborator, Marty Scorsese. For his own solo film though, this is my favorite. Schrader's film work is frequently compared to the late Robert Bresson's films. However, Bresson has always been a little too painterly for me. Schrader is painterly enough and to make it any more so evokes that dreaded word in film: slow. I frankly prefer this film to the Bresson films I've seen, which makes me a film heretic I realize. Urban alienation is at the core of this film, which is true of all Schrader's work, and Willem Dafoe plays a nocturnal drug dealer who doesn't get much sleep (hence the title), probably because his dreams remain so elusive from his grasp, as a metaphor for the overall film. Two women present the immediate conflict in the film. Susan Sarandon plays a drug dealer who Dafoe works for and she tells him that they both need to get out of dealing. She plans to open a legitimate cosmetics business and seems capable of following through on the idea. She is the most in control of her life of the three main characters. Dana Delany plays Dafoe's former lover, who doesn't want anything to do with him because they were substance abusers together in the past. Although he's clean now, he still deals. But is her character as squeaky clean as she now proclaims to be? Dafoe needs to figure that out. Further tension comes about from the eroticism between Dafoe and Delany plus the growing potential for eroticism between Dafoe and Sarandon. Dafoe is absolutely wonderful in this film and becomes a major romantic and erotic dream figure for the viewer regardless of what the viewer thinks of him vis a vis the two women.
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