I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Starring:Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malcolm McDowell, Jamie Foreman, Ken Stott, Sylvia Syms, Alexander Morton, John Surman, Paul Mohan, Damian Dibben, Amber Batty, Daisy Beaumont, Lidija Zovkic, Geoff Bell, Desmond Bayliss, Kirris Riviere, Brian Croucher, Ross Boatman, Marc O'Shea
Director: Mike Hodges
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Mike Hodges and Clive Owen, director and star of the stylish 1998 crime drama Croupier, team again in this moody, almost contemplative thriller about a former gangster, Will Graham (Owen), who returns to London after a lengthy self-exile. In a tragic coincidence, Will's brother, Davey (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), has just committed suicide following a rape by a wealthy car dealer (Malcolm McDowell). Convinced there is more to Davey's death than meets the eye, Will--arguing he is nothing like his old, violent, urban self--slowly evolves again into a formidable criminal. Hodges and screenwriter Trevor Preston emphasize tone and spiritual inference over precise character motivation. Not everything that can be known about Will (especially his rocky psychological state and history with a former lover, played by Charlotte Rampling) is expressly stated. But one can feel his stifled nature rising, paradoxically, toward revenge, and his final actions have an existential power and mystery. --Tom Keogh

Description

In I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, Willie (Owen), a former mobster, comes back to town after he learns his younger brother Davey (Rhys Myers) has committed suicide. Upon learning that Davey was brutally raped by mobsters, Willie is determined to seek justice by finding the men who victimized him. While on the search for the mobsters, Willie comes face-to-face with Frank Scott, the local "bad boy" and conflict arises when Frank starts to believe that Willie is back in town to reclaim his status as the town's bad boy.

Customer Reviews:

Listless Nonsense .......2007-06-11

This is a terrible movie. I equate it to trying to start your car after the battery has died. It "ain't" gonna start, no how no way. This movie has no "heart" whatsoever and can be best described as pointless nonsense. The "killer" in this movie gives the most mundane, stupid reasons for his crime imageable. Laughably predictable. The movie is a BORE. Please keep this one "across the pond". In America, we don't want it.

Interesting, but flawed.......2007-02-25

I like this movie for a lot of reasons. It is visually very stylish and interesting. There are some very good performances, and the contrast between Clive Owen's character, Will Graham, and everyone else from the old neighborhood is fascinating. Will Graham is a character who has left his old life, not to start a new one, but to cut himself off completely from any life. He returns to find out why his younger brother killed himself. The ending, before he seeks his revenge, has a strange ritualistic quality that heightens the tension. In the final analysis, however, I didn't think that the story of Will's search for the reason for his brother's death was nearly as interesting as the story that takes place before the film begins - what happened to Will that led him to abandon everything and begin aimless travels in a beatup camper, spending most of his time by himself. His ex-lover, played by Charlotte Rampling, says he "had a breakdown," but that doesn't provide any insight into what caused this stark, dramatic, and ultimately solitary disappearance from life. Without any understanding of this change, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is interesting , but emotionally unsatisfying.

Clive Owen Is Good, But Not Good Enough To Breathe Life Into This Sleeper.......2007-02-08

Clive Owen has come into his own as an actor. His roles in GOSFORD PARK, INSIDE MAN, and CHILDREN OF MEN have proven him to be an excellent casting choice. And here in I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, director Mike Hodges made the very wise decision to feature Mr. Owen in the prime role as Will Graham, a "retired" gangster returned to the madness after the apparent suicide of his only brother.

Building on the fairly weak relationship of Will Graham with his brother Davey (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, MATCH POINT), the story begins just as it ends, with the arrival and ultimate departure of Will. Interesting in a sort of nonlinear scripting way, the story's ambling nature and unaffecting characters are impossible to empathize with. When Davey (Meyers) is brutally sodomized by a ruthless man, we care very little because we simply don't know anything about them. Nor do we know (or are ever told) why Davey was raped in the first place. There is a simple speech given by the rapist (played by Malcolm McDowell) in an attempt at an explanation, but this is neither believable nor seemingly coherent with the script itself.

Which leads us to bigger and better problems. Since this is the crux of the story -- and what brings Will (Owen) out of retirement -- this leaves the entire film feeling very hollow. The connections between thugs, coroners/cops, and family are thinly developed (if at all) and given so little screen-time as to leave most watchers scratching their heads.

The ending, as stated earlier, mirrors the film's beginnings in that Will appears standing on the same beach monologuing the same lines. The assumption that the viewer is supposed to make is that this has happened before (i.e., Will has come out of "retirement" in the past for important things), but it comes off feeling stilted and out of place.

Clive Owen does an admirable acting job, but the script given him here is too weak to make this a positive movie-going experience.

I'll Sleep When I'm Done This Review.......2007-01-14

Hard to understand why people are not getting this terrific movie. In Croupier, also starring Owens, Mike Hodges evoked a brooding, existential London sub-culture where motives were always unclear and character was never divided between good and evil. Croupier was slow, wonderful to watch, and oozed irrational malice. It drew viewers in just as the unholy lure of gambling draws in prospective addicts.

In I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Hodges weaves the same gossamer spell. There is little story, plenty of characters, but very little character development. These people don't follow a traditional formula; they bump into each other like boats in a harbor - just like real life. The cinematography, music, and overall vibe create a classic modern noir sensibility, and like the best noir, there is no underpinning of justice or rationality to make us feel good about how things turn out. Admittedly, these characters are sketched, not painted, but it is amazing how much we can surmise from just a few carefully selected details.

Most wonderful of all, this is a cynical gangster picture with almost no violence. (Lesser practitioners of moviemaking please take note!) The sense of dread, of impending doom, is where it should be, inside the viewer's imagination. Unlike other reviewers who were dissatisfied with McDowell's motivation, I thought it was inspired - so frequently the most hideous injustices are dished out for reasons no nobler than personal insecurities and jealousy.

Owen is always worth watching, regardless. Here he is surrounded by major talent, Malcolm McDowell and Charlotte Rampling. Both are under-utilized, shall we say, but it's always nice to see them. Rampling, nearly 60, looks amazing, still a real beauty with a fragile yet compelling persona. If you'd like to see her tear the scenery apart, check out The Night Porter.

When Will gets his shave and suits up for the hit, was anybody else reminded of that wonderful scene in Cat Ballou when Lee Marvin puts on his best gunslinger outfit (with scarf!) to take on the man with a tin nose?

Slow-Moving Modern Noir That Actually Made Me Sleep.......2006-07-08

Any films with Clive Owen should not be missed especially when the film is directed by Mike Hodges of `The Croupier' fame. That's why I watched `I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.' I know many critics praised it for its atmospheric photography and its ambiguous content that might or might not teach you something about existential meaning of our life even though you don't want to know existential meaning of life. All I can say safely here is that I almost slept during the long film that goes on and on as if played at half speed.

`I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' is Mike Hodges's modern-day urban noir film featuring quiet guy Will (Owen) working in a forest, living in an old van. While Will has left the town (whose name is unspecified), his brother Davey (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is found dead in a bathtub.

According to the well-known formula of crime novels and films, Will must search the truths behind his brother's strange death, and avenge it. Will, who has left the life of crime three years ago, is expected to be back in the business of killing before or after questioning the life he had been leading. The fact is, we are not sure of it here.

Mike Hodges' film not only refuses to follow the course - that is not a problem for me - but also meanders too much with scene after scene, many of which only show and tell the very superfluous things like Charlotte Rampling suggesting that Will should leave the matter to the police, or leave the town immediately. Though the film takes time to get us to know the characters of Will, it never convinces us of the cause of the death, and the truths about it. Charlotte Rampling and Malcolm McDowell are both terribly wasted, particularly McDowell whose character's motive for doing what he did is simply laughable. Even Clive Owen, undeniably gifted actor, looks confines in formula-one acting up until ten minutes before the ending.

There are many good things that would have made a better British noir in `I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' but the film never finds a way to use them effectively, relying too much on the moody cinematography and character study. The film got both of them, and I admit both are pretty good, but not good enough to make us forget its dull pace and pretentiousness.

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