The Perfect Sleep
Directed By: Jeremy Alter Starring: Anton Pardoe, Roselyn Sanchez, Tony Amendola Synopsis: A man with a tortured soul returns to an unnamed city, a place where he turned his back on the life of a hitman, back when he was known as The Mad Monk for his seeming disregard for his own life in battle. He has returned for one reason – the unattainable love of his life, Porphyria (Roselyn Sanchez), whose life and that of her daughter are in grave danger. Standing in his way are a number of deadly assassins who would dearly love the chance to kill him, and Nicholai, the man who raised him and may well be his father. Review: The phrase “Film Noir” often gets bandied about when a crime thriller is hard to categorise and has a bit of darkness about it. I’d say that The Perfect Sleep is proper Film Noir, in that the story revels in the darkness of its characters and the film is shot in such a way that shadows play an important part in the mood of the piece. Anton Pardoe has the role of a hard boiled anti-hero nailed to the point that he appears born to the role. He spends most of the film bruised and battered as he is constantly being kicked around and beaten up (his strategy to winning is to wear down his opponents until they make a mistake he can exploit). I found his constant narration a little tedious as the movie went on because it started to become an obstacle to watching the action onscreen. Having Pardoe give a running internal dialogue during an intense fight scene(s) is quite distracting. I was reminded of Harrison Ford’s narration in the original Theatrical Cut of Blade Runner as he sounded so bored. Pardoe’s constant pining for Sanchez grates too. The almost constant narration threatens to derail the movie, but the action, the way the scenes are lit, framed and shot really make up for it. David Vanian (front man of punk group The Damned) provides an evocative score aswell. The cast is peppered with interesting actors – Stargate fans will spot Tony Amendola in a pivotal role as a doctor who is deadly with a scalpel. 80’s icon Michael Pare also turns up to save the day on occasion. Behind the scenes there are two names which should be familiar to every action fan by now – Larnell Stoval (choreographer on Undisputed III) had a hand in the stunt-work and Johnny Ngyen (A Force of Five, The Rebel) was the stunt double for The Rajah (Sam Thakur). The movie itself resembles a play and could well be adapted into one for the stage. There are few characters onscreen at any one time and it gives a feeling of the budget’s restrictions. Apart from the heavy narration, the screenplay (by star Pardoe) is well written and complex without distancing the audience. It does throw a lot at the audience and for this reason it might not be to everyone’s taste.
Summary The Perfect Sleep is incredibly stylised but still accessible to those with open minds who will embrace it’s low budget and all that comes along with it. It’s only real issue is the heavy dosage of internal dialogue being narrated by Pardoe’s bruised and battered anti-hero. Mainstream audiences will want to stay away and perhaps watch Sin City again.6 out of 10 (Wayfarer/Mikeoutwest) Just for a bit of fun, here's part of the viral marketing the film-makers made to promote the film...
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