Light Sleeper

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1:58

Light Sleeper

R,

1992,

1h 48m,

Mystery & Thriller

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87%

45 Reviews

Tomatometer

65%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

87%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

65%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A Manhattan drug dealer with a wealthy clientele, John LeTour reevaluates both his trade and his life after discovering that his supplier, Ann, is planning on quitting the business. When John runs into his old flame Marianne, he sees reconnecting with her as a way to change for the better, but she is reluctant to rekindle the romance. Complicating John's life further is a series of drug-related murders that has the police pegging him as a suspect.

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Critics Consensus

Light Sleeper requires patience, but delivers commensurate rewards -- and boasts an absorbing performance from Willem Dafoe.

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Hugo Davenport

Daily Telegraph (UK)

May 20, 2022

American filmmakers have a weakness for presenting a shoot-out as either the precursor of redemption or redemptive in itself; this film falls into the latter group.

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

Feb 28, 2021

The cast is skilfully alert... and Schrader's vision is unencumbered either by sentiment or cynicism.

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Sep 9, 2014

3/4

Light Sleeper is emblematic of an era, and is recommended on that basis and on the excellent quality of it acting.

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Steve Warren

Southern Voice (Atlanta)

May 9, 2023

Though well acted and never uninteresting, Light Sleeper is far less intense than most of Schrader's work and further diluted by an unrealistic ending.

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Mitchell Beaupre

Paste Magazine

Sep 23, 2022

10/10

From that opening use of “World on Fire”, Been’s vocals and melancholic, somber tones feel as rooted in the essence of Light Sleeper as Dafoe’s razor-sharp bone structure, or those heaps of trash bags lining the sidewalks.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Jun 30, 2022

3.5/4

...an erratic yet predominantly satisfying effort from Schrader.

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Albus P

Nov 12, 2017

Very interesting specimen. Not a game-changer, but really gets into your bones somehow. Despite my seeing it for the first time 25 years after it was made. Reminds me of Basquiat in an odd way.

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Anakin R

Sep 3, 2017

It has that ability of being small but seeming bigger than what it is saying, thanks to Dafoe's quietly strong performance and Schrader's knack for dialogue.

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Theodore W

Jul 16, 2017

nice but once. nothing good to say, only trash all over the street makes this one special

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Paul Schrader

Director

Willem Dafoe

John LeTour

Susan Sarandon

Ann

Dana Delany

Marianne Joseph

David Clennon

Robert

Mary Beth Hurt

Teresa Aranow

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Light Sleeper: Trailer 1

1:58

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Synopsis

A Manhattan drug dealer with a wealthy clientele, John LeTour reevaluates both his trade and his life after discovering that his supplier, Ann, is planning on quitting the business. When John runs into his old flame Marianne, he sees reconnecting with her as a way to change for the better, but she is reluctant to rekindle the romance. Complicating John's life further is a series of drug-related murders that has the police pegging him as a suspect.

Director: Paul Schrader
Producer: Linda Reisman
Screenwriter: Paul Schrader
Distributor: Fine Line Features
Production Co: Grain of Sand Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 21, 1992, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.0M
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Mono

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