The Perfect Sleep

The Perfect Sleep has all the elements to be a successful lower budget rendition of Sin City, if only it wasn’t so damn confusing! The film uses a lengthy introduction to set the stage, but somehow everything still gets lost in the sauce of what seems like two parts film noir, one part action flick, and one part beautiful mess. I was captivated for the first twenty minutes or so, but then I had almost no idea what was going on, and my interest was suddenly killed along with a prominent amount of this film’s cast.

Based on the relatively violent and hurried yet still lengthy narration by the aptly named Narrator (Anton Pardoe), it seems like this is a story of revenge and unrequited love. And, to one degree or another, it is. Through a series of assassinations and rivalries which aren’t particularly well explained, the Narrator ends up living with his mother’s brother Nikolai and thus meets Porphyria (Roselyn Sanchez), the woman who seems to consume his current existence. Nikolai and his various accomplices apparently don’t want this to happen, though. Violence ensues.

I don’t quite know why The Perfect Sleep ends up being so unnecessarily confusing. Perhaps the visuals gained precedence over the plot… Honestly, I can’t say. There are some amazing shots here and there, and it’s all very stylized and pretty, but its minimal budget still shines through, and it’s unfortunately grating. At least when the film seems to get lost within itself and resorts to various fight scenes, the scenes are nicely shot so you can momentarily enjoy what you’re seeing, despite not knowing completely the reasons why what’s unfolding in front of you is happening in the first place.

All of the performances are earnest. Pardoe plays off the film noir stereotype of the aggressive, gravelly voiced narrator in a campy sort of way, but in this situation, it works and doesn’t come across as goofy as it actually is. Sanchez’s performance isn’t anything to shake a stick at, but you can tell she’s sincerely trying her hardest to work with what she’s been given, and one certainly cannot fault her for that. Somehow, none of the actors seem particularly confused. Either that, or they mask it really well.

As I attempt to wrap up this review by saying something thoughtful, I feel bad that I’m struggling to think of things to say about this movie. I love the sultry and stylish film noir appeal that it oozes, but at the same time, while it might be pretty, for some reason, I simply can’t get past how unnecessarily confusing it is. While it’ll never amount to something equal to Frank Miller’s epic Sin City, one could only wonder what would have happened if the plot was a lot more streamlined — the screenplay trimmed here and there and made to be less vague. If that was the case, perhaps the Narrator’s gravelly voice would lure me deeper into the shady mysteries this film clearly offers to its viewers, but, alas, in its current form, this is nothing short of impossible.