The Perfect Sleep may sound intriguing, as its IMDb description boasts of the promise of a stylish, modern-day film noir. But unfortunately, this film is nothing that you haven't seen before, though it really, really wants to be.
At the beginning, we are introduced to The Narrator (otherwise known as the Mad Monk, as we later find out), who, as his name suggests, dictates the story to us. To me, narrators in films usually seem superfluous, and rarely are they warranted or even necessary; quite frankly, a lot of the time the device is a mere cop-out, and such is precisely the case with this film. The narration is warranted, but certainly not justified; it exists solely to divulge a whole heap of background information that would simply be impossible to reveal otherwise. But isn't it a sign of good filmmaking when you don't have to resort to such cheap devices? Also, and maybe it's just me, but I don't really enjoy hearing a character's thoughts play over a fight scene. It isn't really different or arty or whatever the hell else it's trying to be; it's just plain annoying, not to mention distracting.
The story itself is generic at best, and derivative at worst. You have the femme fatale, the revenge-driven vendetta against the murderers of a family member, the unwitting, brooding, bastard-child Baronic hero, who hates what he does (read: kill people) but only does so because he's "good at it." How many times have you heard that one before? And, of course, our hero has no idea who his father is, but you can bet he'll find out by the end.
From the bowler hats to the old-timey dialogue (read: "These guys ain't takin' me for a picnic.") to the music, the film tries hard to incorporate noir-ish signifiers into its narrative. But instead of looking stylized, it all feels a little forced. The writing is especially redundant and rife with cliches (stereotypical Russian mobsters with unconvincing accents, anyone?), and the acting is campy and over-the-top, though the latter can be forgiven, because at times it seems to fit with the script. Other times, not so much. It's like the movie can't decide whether it wants to be L.A. Confidential or Mafia! Is it a carefully crafted homage to noir? Or is it a tongue-in-cheek send-up of a long-since-dead genre of film? It tries hard to be both, and in the end, for all its effort, it winds up being neither. Why revisit something that's already been done so many times before if you aren't going to give us anything new? The actors themselves seem unsure of the purpose and intent of this film; some play up their parts (Anton Pardoe, Tony Amendola) and others seem to take their roles a little too seriously (Roselyn Sanchez, playing the aforementioned femme fatale, Porphyria). The disparity between the acting styles becomes increasingly apparent as the film vacillates from one end of the spectrum to the other, trying on innumerable modes of filmmaking from satire to melodrama, and ultimately failing to find one that fits.
The Perfect Sleep does have its moments. It is surprisingly slick for such a low-budget production, and the lighting is absolutely beautiful, all shadows and muted colors. At times it takes on a metafictional quality, with The Narrator taking time out of the story to comment on the framing of a particular shot, with lines like, "Say, nice shot. Sorry if it seems kind of cliche, but the French dig this kind of visual. And I dig the French." It's clever and interesting, and sort of reminiscent of Brick, Rian Johnson's infinitely more inventive noir high school mystery, which blended humor and tragedy in a way Pardoe only dreams of. More of this kind of witty commentary is exactly what's missing from this film which, although momentarily lapsing into small instances of inspiration, remains mostly...well, uninspired. Seriously, go rent Brick and see how it's really done.
"The Perfect Sleep" is on sale June 16, 2009 and is rated R. Action, Drama, Thriller. Directed by Jeremy Alter. Written by Anton Pardoe. Starring Anton Pardoe, Patrick Bauchau, Roselyn Sanchez, Tony Amendola.
