Director Dario Argento teams up with frequent collaborator and writer Franco Ferrini in what is considered to be a return to form for the Italian director. Sleepless (AKA Nonhosonno) begins in Turin, Italy in 1983 at a murder scene where Detective Ulisse Moretti (Max Von Sydow) tells a young boy by the name of Giacomo that he'll find his mother's killer whatever it takes. 17 years later, a serial killer is on the loose whose murders resemble those of the "Killer Dwarf" of the past. It's up to Moretti and the now older Giacomo (Stefano Dionisi) to find out who it is.
Sleepless is a giallo which is basically a type of Italian murder mystery/thriller. Gialli are based on paperback novels with yellow covers that were once popular in Italy. Stylish set-pieces and elaborate, gory murders are just a couple of the genre's trademarks. One of the writers of Sleepless, Carlo Lucarelli, is an actual writer of crime novels and he made sure that the police procedurals in the film were as accurate as possible.
The performances from the cast are a bit of a mixed bag. Stefano Dionisi is quite stilted as Giacomo, but this is likely because of the poor English dubbing. I can't really say for sure. The same pretty much goes for Giacomo's love interest Gloria (Chiara Caselli). It was nice to see Gabriele Lavia of Argento's own Deep Red and Inferno playing the role of Lorenzo (Roberto Zibetti)'s father. Max Von Sydow gives not only the film's best performance but one of the best male performances in the Argento canon. He is subtle and understated and just great to watch the whole time.
Much has been made of the train sequence that takes place within the first 20 minutes of the film. In it, there are a total of three murders, one of which we don't see occur. After a prostitute named Angela (Barbara Lerici) leaves the killer's house, she realizes that after falling, she accidentally picked up a blue folder full of evidence incriminating the killer. The murderer is more than a little perturbed about this and proceeds to track her down. This results in a truly suspenseful scene with the camera bringing us into the action as well as the darkness and sense of claustrophobic terror the woman is experiencing. Soon after, her friend is also killed after trying to find Angela. The best part about it must be the pulsing music by Goblin. Simply put, it's one of the best sequences Argento has filmed in a long time.
Cinematographer Ronnie Taylor (Opera, Gandhi) does a fantastic job giving the film a realistic and dark, mysterious look as in the train scene. The city of Turin has a unique atmosphere in the film and provides for some unnerving moments. One excellent sequence from a cinematographic standpoint is the "carpet crawl". The camera slowly pans across a red carpet as we see the natural activity of a theatre's inhabitants before bearing witness to a grisly murder. It's wonderfully shot and brings to mind the forever memorable crane shot of the house in Tenebre.
Argento regular Sergio Stivaletti handles the special effects and succeeds for the most part. With the exception of an obviously fake head, they are realistic and very gruesome. The murders are grisly and include numerous slashings, a teeth bashing, and a disturbing stabbing by way of a musical instrument, among others.
Goblin has always been well known for their scores for Dario Argento's films. Sleepless marked their first collaboration since Phenomena in 1985. In those 16 years, they haven't lost anything. There's one track in particular, a song with a driving pace and a cutting bass line that has the same visceral feel of certain tracks in Deep Red and Tenebre. The theme song is also of note with its crawling guitar riff and menacing atmosphere.
The biggest problem I had while watching Sleepless didn't have anything to do with the film itself. The DVD I viewed was in Full Screen so there some things cut out of the frame. Also, darker scenes were harder to see because the blacks were oversaturated. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure which DVD I viewed (it came from Netflix) as it didn't have the extras or audio options that the Artisan DVD supposedly does (I'm fairly certain I would have seen them!) but it appears as if the Artisan release is the only one in the U.S. Apparently, the UK release by M.I.A. is in anamorphic widescreen so get that if you can play it.
While I support Dario Argento's frequently criticized post-Opera films like Trauma and The Card Player, it's hard not to get excited while watching this movie. It really does capture some of what made his earlier films so great. This is well worth seeing after you've watched the majority of what is considered to be his best work.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age
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