The Perfect Sleep (2009)
In a timeless city, a man with no name returns to the violent, brutal domain of assassins he left ten years before – back when they dubbed him The Mad Monk for his disregard for his own life and his intense devotion to one woman, Porphyria; a beautiful, luminescent woman; the girl he grew up with; the love of his life; the one thing he has ever wanted; the one thing he can never have.
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Best movie of this year hands down!
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
The film is visually interesting, and has a plot that I found needed a second viewing to fully appreciate. Intellectually stimulating, really gripping make believe.It is melodramatic and has its flaws. Some of the acting moments are weak, particularly from the lead actress in the finale. Others are superbly acted, and I thought the lead actor particularly well cast. As well as many of the supporting roles. There are gory moments and one particularly memorable chilling character.Nit pickers won't find perfection here but this is one of few films I've enjoyed re-watching - three times now, and will probably do so again.
I would say the narration was inane but, that would mean it had to have sense or substance, which it didn't.The storyline was little more than that contrived by a ten year old boy with constipation while sitting on the pot.If we still had coal fires we could use the lacklustre script and wooden acting to light the fire.If vitality is the characteristic which distinguishes living things from nonliving things, we may now bury this and not bother with a wake.I would like to say that this digital diatribe had no redeeming features at all but, it does have one, a visual one, and that is the beauty of Roselyn Sanchez.
The Perfect Sleep is a prime example of a B-movie film noir. It recalls the methods of Tarantino in that its direction shows a love for movie making. Unfortunately the downs of this outweighs the ups. What we have here is a deliciously gorgeous picture, well shot, but also equipped with a screenplay which tries too hard to be something that is out of reach. The story is convoluted, messy, with pretentious dialogue, and too many characters whose functions are minimal. It is a delightful film to look at, but an impossible one to invest in. It is as if the makers of The Perfect Sleep would rather have the viewers acknowledge that they are watching a movie rather than be involved. I enjoyed watching one illustruious image after another, but I could not follow this movie at all. The Perfect Sleep is basically a film that likes to show off, but not everything gets through to us.
I'm not "Noir expert", just a movie-goer who watches and enjoy.The film with its dark atmosphere is heavy on narrative, I found it like-able thanks to the good voice-over and witty lines. The tone can be condescending sometimes, whether it interrupts your joy depends if you can take it.There's also plenty of stylish moments. The film isn't straightforward,scenes are cut here and there, there's flashbacks in metaphorical ways. But there's good flow, the movie doesn't change the picture every 1 seconds, no annoying constant cuts. The soundtrack is spot-on. The setting is so-so, but one of the mansion shown has a pleasant, vintage architecture.I find the narrator aka mad monk like-able, but not the female protagonist(it's her looks...). The narrator tends to be witty often. There's other interesting characters like a kung-fu captain and an eccentric killer doctor, who often quote Hamlet's words: If it be now, tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. "If it be not now, yet it will come. Good sirs, the readiness is all." The story centers around 3 orphans. The story isn't groundbreaking and there's weak plot structure (again, don't take the story seriously, enjoy the ride). While there's action involving gunfights, hand to hand combat, it's not occurring every second. It's enjoyable although it occurs quickly. The dialogs aren't dumb, for lack of better words. It's smart and witty, sometimes eccentric(see killer doctor). Although it can seem... superfluous.Overall, witty script, stylish presentation and likable characters.