Customer Reviews

Sleep Dealer [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sleep Dealer, dir Alex Rivera, 2008, USA/Mexico.

The Future of Science Fiction 5*

I have seen the future of science fiction, and it is good, at least if this film has the influence it so richly deserves. Written science fiction is about so much more than the space opera and bug eyed monster tales and post-apocalyptic gotterdammerung that form the bulk of filmic "sci fi" that it is good to see the film world catching up. There have always been a few "real" science fiction movies that break the mold -- "A Boy and His Dog", "2001", "Blade Runner", even "Charly" (though that butchered the original wonderful Daniel Keys novella, the intent was there) come to mind. But most of those refer back to classic science fiction written works. What is great about "Sleep Dealer" is that it takes the vision of good written SF, with an original plot and theme, mixes it with the vocabulary of the special effects driven films that dominate the science fiction theater, and comes out with something wonderful. I hope this is an indication that the new generation of writers and directors (and not just Hollywood budget types, but independent and "foreign" cinematographers) have absorbed this vocabulary to the point where it is simply another tool in their repertoir, and will continue to use it judiciously to tell a new generation of adult science fiction tales.

Sleep Dealer combines a cyberpunk vision of the near future with a clear social vision and a dynamite plot and characterizations. Memo (Fernando Pena, with a tilde) is a young man in a remote and dusty Oaxacan village, Santa Ana del Rio. His father struggles on to raise crops on the ancestral plot since a gringo corporation dammed the local river ... going to beg a few liters of water, he and Memo are faced with a remote control, talking gun at the fence. Memo dreams of leaving the dusty town, and has a Rube Goldberg radio setup (with a manual "Hacking for Beginners" :-) that he uses to listen to communications from the outside world, in best cyberpunk fashion. One day he overhears com between a drone pilot and his base, but they detect him. He cuts the connection, but shortly thereafter, while he and his brother are away at a party, they see a TV broadcast of an American drone pilot's first mission, going after "aqua terrorists"

Memo flees to Tijuana to make money for his family as a plugged in worker -- the US border is totally shut down, so Mexicans toil by remote control from south of the border, using robots to the north. On the bus North, Memo meets Luz (Leonor Varela), a lovely young woman who is trying to make a living as a 'writer', jacking in and transcribing her memories directly into cyberspace for others to buy. She 'writes' a vignette of having met Memo, and what little of his story he told her. When he is mugged, she offers to get him the implanted nodes which will let him work .. and turns out to be able to do the "coyoteka's" work herself. Luz's writeup of Memo has an enthusiastic customer, who wants more material and she sees Memo again and again. Luz finds herself falling for him as he does for her. Eventually, they are brought together with the phantom customer, and the film winds to a surprising but seemingly inevitable conclusion.
.
Sleep Dealer is replete with nice little touches, such as the drone pilot being of Latino descent, from a military family; or the company Memo works for, Cybracero (cyber + bracero). The special effects may not be state of the art, but are perfectly adequate to the purpose at hand, that of telling Memo's story and presenting the world he lives in. And that world is very carefully imagined, firmly grounded in the realities of today.

In the press kit, which is available on line, director Alex Rivera describes Sleep Dealer as "a humble film ... an honest attempt to use science-fiction film to say something new, and something true, about our world today." He has succeeded in spades. A very enthusiastic 5 *'s.

Quote 1: When they dammed up the river, they cut off our future. (Memo's father)
Quote 2: "... and blow the hell out of the bad guys." (drone show host)
2008 Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and Alfred P. Sloan Prize.

Memo (Luis Fernando Peña) wants to escape his hard agricultural life caused by the US damming of their river. He does so with the aid of a radio interceptor. Little did he know that his hobby would lead to an unusual interaction and unique communication of three lives Memo, Rudy (Jacob Vargas), and Luz (Leonor Varela).

One scene that I can relate to is where Memo and Luz are at a rivers edge discussing life with his head in her lap. Even though this takes place in Mexico, I spent some time with my girl in a similar riverbed (Los Angeles) where it crosses with the San Jacinto River near a small park named Ford. Therefore, this had a more personal flair for me.

This is not a simple movie as not only stories overlapping but also the technology needed to tell the story is a collage of many sci-fi movies from before. I was interested in the main characters as a story however according to the voice over it is more of a political movement using technology against its self. They bend the system.

You will find a message for everyone on different levels. I think you will get the Memo.

You definitely need to see the two DVD extras "before the making of Sleep Dealer" which is almost a mini-tutorial on how to build and market a movie, and the voice over (in English) which tells all the nitty-gritty details of the movie including a more intricate use of resources. We learn that the war strike scenes are real footage from the net as are many of the other scenes and some verbiage is modeled on apache helicopter kill communications from u-tube.

This little sleeper of a movie winds together more different strands than any I've seen in ages. It variously explores American isolationism combined with a demand for immigrant labor, the rise of a commercial military, new kinds of sweat shops, armed escalation of the water wars, and the irony of social networking (in the electronic sense). As people interact more by wire, eventually, the wires become necessary for interacting even in person.

The major plot elements seem familiar - traditional society failing under pressure from the modern work, and the boy trying to support his family by working in the big city. A relatively recent stereotype appears, too: the soldier who we come to respect, even when he fights in a war that we don't.

This succeeds at many levels. It can be seen as an anti-American, anti-corporate diatribe, or as a grim extrapolation of today's headlines. Either way, it carries reminders that people will still reach out to each other, and that personal honor will continue to have meaning.

-- wiredweird

The movie was creative, original & didn't overdo the CGI.
I liked the scenery & how people tried to survive in the future.

The CGI was interesting too.
controlling remote robots > cool

There was one main plot & two subplots.
main > what occurred to the guy's family
subplot 1 > girlfriend
subplot 2 > drone pilot

PROs
CGI
story
drama
survival

CONs
death
being a third world citizen
being used by the system

I all honesty you must understand this is an independent film so some of the seens might trip you out cause you can see how low budget it is but besides that the film is great its the first sci fi from the persective of the third world its a good mixture of issues sci fi and how technology has become part of us literaly, the realtionship between the unted states and mexico and its good especially for its price plus ive been to a screening where the dirctor was at and he was a chill dude

4.6 stars

Saw this one on the blu-ray wall at the local FlockCluster, and when they only buy one copy of a film, it tends to be much better than when they have 30 of something (huge studio push vs. some rare guy at corporate hq who knows quality making sure they have at least one dvd of a sleeper; Deliver Us From Evil, Bashir, and many many others fit this mold). Sleep Dealer also certainly falls into this category.

Alex Rivera is a true auteur, having written SD ten years before it was made, and making it with very little money, just a Sundance grant (Redford's social conscience lives on!). But what a difference between this and the endless big budget crapaganda we get out of Hollyweird. SD has heart in every frame, and intelligence behind that heart.

The basic story is very PK Dick, a big compliment, coming from my pen at least. Dystopian but with redemption as its spine, like all great sci-fi, SD transcends its genre and becomes truly fine political commentary. So many solid scenes here, and the two principals are excellent. It's funny: I believed in every frame of this movie, despite its very low production values, or maybe because of them. Most 100 million dollar films I don't believe a word of. Gloss can never touch what creative cost-cutting can, do if its heart is in the right place.

Best of all, it is a tight, sinewy 90 minutes. No wasted scenes or lines, just a good story that keeps moving until a satisfying conclusion. I cared about the characters. I laughed at the many sly digs at corporate culture and US military imperialism. The premise of water being hoarded from farmers by the gov't is so dead-on that much of this film felt like a present-day documentary. The fake Fox violence/reality show was perfect; we are already using drones like video games and killing civilians frquently with drones in Afghanistan controlled from Langley. Scary stuff.

One of the best surprises I've had as a film fan this year, I can't recommend Sleep Dealer highly enough to any fans of sci-fi, social insight, and/or quality movie making in general.

Alex Rivera, take a bow.

This is a real 'sleeper' of a SciFi movie. I had heard about it as I don't recall it playing even in the Indie Theaters. I was really impressed with the production values and the acting. A really low key movie in a lot of ways; there isn't a lot of reliance on special effects and the plot is very interesting without 'talking down' to the audience. I recommend this little gem. BTW, the Blu Ray version is very good. No special features really; just a small documentary on the back story, but still worth your time and money.

The premise of this film and storytelling vision are exceptional, but the first warning sign was the lowest cost BD I have seen in recent memory (my cost was lower than the DVD).

The story follows a man becoming part of a futuristic version of slave labor being used in America, but from south of the border via cyber links instead of physically being here. Workers are connected to their counterpart machines working both dangerous and agricultural jobs here in the United States. There are several subplots involving love, redemption and corporate treachery, but the main theme of sending the money home still rings true, even in this cyberfuture. The special effects are low grade, but they only get utilized a few times to showcase the military drones and robot workers (less than 5 minutes screen time).

The Blu quality is non-existent. There is an overwhelming orange/yellow tint that drowns out any clarity (tried to be like Traffic - Criterion Collection but didn't work). There was a different camera used in the overhead city shots so they turned out clear, but otherwise the scenery is overexposed, and the grain and artifact are prevalent throughout. The 5.1 is used minimally but sounds flat. The supplements include a decent 10 minute making of and a commentary. The making of is worth the watch and has a narrated track describing the origins and process of making a passion piece like this.

3.5 for the film and .5 for the supplements, but zero for the BD quality. But for this price, why not give it a try?

This is an amazing contribution from Mexico: consistent narrative, no redundance, no special effects disguising weak plot, no overwhelming scenes for the sake of mere pretension. A lesson on how to make good Sci-Fi movies!!!
There really is a story, and human complex issues are contemplated in a wise, original way. It's not just entertainment, it leaves you a lot to think about by connecting the characters lives to our own questions.
Very thoughtful, with convincing performances and perfect sense of timing and style.

Sleep Dealer was an unexpected pleasure. I hadn't heard anything about it, but the story seemed intriguing, and I was amazed at the originality of the movie. It seems to combine the contemporary story of poverty in Mexico, mixes it with corporate greed (mostly from the U.S), fear of terrorism, isolationism, and water as such a scarce item that it's guarded by military rifle-wielding corporate soldiers.

I loved how the story could be science fiction and gritty contemporary realism at the same time. This movie is highly entertaining and thoroughly satisfying.