I know a lot of you are rather indifferent to Sleepless, but to me this has a lot of the hallmarks of what Argento used to do back in the 70s and early 80s. Sure… The visuals are updated, and the visual experimenting is not that prevalent, but everything else is here. The rain, the use of shadows, spot lighting, and of course… the kills that ends up looking almost beautiful. There are also a lot of nods to his earlier works, like the sweeping camera from Tenebre, Deep Red when the train comes in to the station, and several others. I’m actually quite fond of how Sleepless looks and feels.
The story is the one part that leaves a bit to be desired. It has a lot of holes, and some leaps that even I think are a bit too far. You might actually call it convoluted. There’s also some tiny pacing issues, but now I’m just nitpicking. It’s a perfectly decent story… If you try not to think too much. Hard to do when you are watching a giallo… I know.
The acting is… decent, but not more than that. I really like Max von Sydow in just about every film he has ever done, but in this… he seems a bit miscast. Stefano Dionisi is OK, but look a little lost. Especially in the scenes with Max von Sydow. Luckily… there’s no one that really stands out in a very negative way.
The music is great, but that is no surprise for anyone that knows Argento and his relationship with Goblin. The way their music almost hammers Argento’s plot points in is something that is really distinctive, and something I really miss when it’s not there in other Argento films. For those of you that likes soundtracks, Cinevox has an excellent release of this one.
Sleepless is not the return to form for Argento it could have been. It is, however, an OK way to spend a couple of hours. As I said above, you have to be able to look past a lot of plot inconsistencies to be able to enjoy this one fully, but if you can do that, you’ll probably like it.
Review by GreeneidalVIP 9BlockedParent2023-04-27T20:17:44Z
I know a lot of you are rather indifferent to Sleepless, but to me this has a lot of the hallmarks of what Argento used to do back in the 70s and early 80s. Sure… The visuals are updated, and the visual experimenting is not that prevalent, but everything else is here. The rain, the use of shadows, spot lighting, and of course… the kills that ends up looking almost beautiful. There are also a lot of nods to his earlier works, like the sweeping camera from Tenebre, Deep Red when the train comes in to the station, and several others. I’m actually quite fond of how Sleepless looks and feels.
The story is the one part that leaves a bit to be desired. It has a lot of holes, and some leaps that even I think are a bit too far. You might actually call it convoluted. There’s also some tiny pacing issues, but now I’m just nitpicking. It’s a perfectly decent story… If you try not to think too much. Hard to do when you are watching a giallo… I know.
The acting is… decent, but not more than that. I really like Max von Sydow in just about every film he has ever done, but in this… he seems a bit miscast. Stefano Dionisi is OK, but look a little lost. Especially in the scenes with Max von Sydow. Luckily… there’s no one that really stands out in a very negative way.
The music is great, but that is no surprise for anyone that knows Argento and his relationship with Goblin. The way their music almost hammers Argento’s plot points in is something that is really distinctive, and something I really miss when it’s not there in other Argento films. For those of you that likes soundtracks, Cinevox has an excellent release of this one.
Sleepless is not the return to form for Argento it could have been. It is, however, an OK way to spend a couple of hours. As I said above, you have to be able to look past a lot of plot inconsistencies to be able to enjoy this one fully, but if you can do that, you’ll probably like it.