Light Sleeper

Directed by Paul Schrader, Light Sleeper follows drug dealer John LeTour (Willem Dafoe) as he experiences a crisis of conscience after encountering a woman (Dana Delaney’s Marianne) from his past. It’s a familiar premise that is, at the outset, employed to less-than-captivating effect by Schrader, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a meandering and excessively deliberate endeavor that contains little in the way of forward momentum – with the movie’s saving grace initially its raft of top-tier, first-class performances. (Dafoe’s sterling work here is matched by an eclectic supporting cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Victor Garber, and Jane Adams.) There’s little doubt, then, that Light Sleeper adopts an increasingly engrossing vibe as it progresses into a comparatively (and palpably) captivating midsection and second half, with the growing emphasis on John’s crumbling mental state, triggered by the death of a close friend, paving the way for an impressively (and unexpectedly) electrifying third act that’s capped off with a moving final scene – which ultimately cements the picture’s place as an erratic yet predominantly satisfying effort from Schrader.

***1/2 out of ****