Light Sleeper 1992

     John LeTour used to be hooked on drugs but now he just deals, he calls himself a DD.  He works in Manhattan with a couple and they sell to wealthier and more exclusive clients.  John has a driver and fancy car for his appointments.  He accidently runs into his ex-wife twice in one day.  He feels rattled by this incident and also by the plans of his work partners to quit the business and go into herbal cosmetics instead.  He visits a psychic for help and advice.  A woman from the Upper East Side is murdered after a drug transaction.  This spooks John even more and especially after a detective leans on him for information.

     Usually Dafoe is the bad guy but in this role he has more sympathy but it’s difficult to have sympathy for him.  Everyone is young in this film and it’s the time when everyone has to be “cool.”  Better to be dead than not be cool?  His ex-wife has been clean and sober for 5 years, she feels like it is taking and being around poison again to have anything to do with him.  There is darkness in this film from the beginning to the end.  3* (This movie is OK)

103 min, Crime directed by Paul Schrader with Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany, David Clennon, Mary Beth Hurt, Victor Garber, Jane Adams, Paul Jabara, Robert Cicchini, Sam Rockwell, Rene Rivera.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 89% critic 64% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*.

Special Note:  This is the third film in a trilogy from Paul Schrader.  The other films were Taxi Driver and American Gigolo.  All the films are about people on the fringes of society.