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The Perfect Sleep may sound intriguing, as its IMDb description boasts of the promise of a stylish, modern-day film noir. But unfortunately, this film is nothing that you haven't seen before, though it really, really wants to be.

At the beginning, we are introduced to The Narrator (otherwise known as the Mad Monk, as we later find out), who, as his name suggests, dictates the story to us. To me, narrators in films usually seem superfluous, and rarely are they warranted or even necessary; quite frankly, a lot of the time the device is a mere cop-out, and such is precisely the case with this film. The narration is warranted, but certainly not justified; it exists solely to divulge a whole heap of background information that would simply be impossible to reveal otherwise. But isn't it a sign of good filmmaking when you don't have to resort to such cheap devices?...

The Perfect Sleep’s official synopsis bills it as the world of Dashiell Hammett populated by the characters of Dostoevsky, mixed in with martial arts. Tall order. Naturally, I assumed that the prevailing portion of the three would be the Hammett, given the noir-tinged visuals. Imagine my surprise, both in bemusement and amusement, that the Dostoevsky reigns in this independent production. The Perfect Sleep is existential and dense, with a sharp moral core and family schisms recalling The Brothers Karamazov.

Anton Pardoe is both the writer and the brooding star of the film, a Sam Spade type fella known to us only by his nickname The Mad Monk. He returns to a timeless city (old clothes, old cars, but new guns and gadgets) after a long exile, to help his object of affection Porphyria (a voluptuous and affecting Roselyn Sanchez), no doubt named so for the pain she causes the men who fight over her.

Trailer for Jeremy Alter's The Perfect Sleep which is set "against the backdrop of a noirish dreamscape, a tortured man returns to the city he swore he would never return to, in order to save the woman he has always loved yet can never have"

The screeplay is by Anton Pardoe who also stars along with Roselyn Sanchez (Without a Trace), Patrick Bauchau (Chrysalis, Carnivàle), Peter J. Lucas (Inland Empire)

www.theperfectsleep.com

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tags: action, drama, film noir, martial arts, thriller...

Ambitiously described as Dashiell Hammett meets Dostoevsky, The Perfect Sleep follows an assassin who returns to a city after a decade to risk his life for a dame. (It's the supersexy Roselyn Sanchez, so... understandable.) The intriguing noir indie stars Anton Pardoe (who also wrote it) and features familiar faces like Sanchez, Michael Pare, and Patrick Bauchau. The stylish film premieres at the Sunset Laemmle Theatre in Los Angeles on March 13th, before expanding to other cities. Find out more at the snazzy official site, and check out the trailer below!

Year: 2009

Directors: Jeremy Alter

Writers: Anton Pardoe

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: agentorange

Rating: 5.8 out of 10

It's strange to think that we live in a world where such a great American genre like Film Noir is dead. Not buried yet mind you, just dead. Some of the genre's iconography still exists here and there, like in the visual aesthetics of modern thrillers, but true Film Noir can't seem to exist on its own anymore without some kind of post-modern crutch to prop it up and give it relevance. It seems to Need the high school hallways of Rian Johnson's Brick, the animated landscape of D. Jud Jones' Film Noir, or the over-the-top parody of The Spirit to exist anymore. I find it interesting that a criticism that's often thrown at modern Film Noirs that try to play it straight is that they're too "cliched." Well duh, that's...

Unified Pictures has just sent the trailer for their upcoming action/thriller "The Perfect Sleep," starring Roselyn Sanchez (Rush Hour 2, The Game Plan) and Anton Pardoe. Click on the link below to check it out. Plot: Set against the backdrop of a noirish dreamscape, a tortured man (Pardoe) returns to the city he swore he would never return to, in order to save the woman (Sanchez) he has always loved yet can never have. "The Perfect Sleep" is Jeremy Alter's directorial debut. Last we heard of Alter, he was producing David Lynch's "Inland Empire" and was one of the helmers (including Brett Ratner and Len Wiseman) attached to direct the "Escape from New York" remake. Alter's "Sleep" is getting a limited release and will first appear at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood next Friday (March 13th), before spreading to NY the following week. If anyone lives in...

Film noir can be painful when it's done poorly, but overall, there really doesn't seem to be enough of it out there. Sometimes, you get something as straight-faced and reverent as Brick, and at others, you get goofy-but-affectionate riffs on the genre like Assassination of a High School President and South of Heaven.

So it's nice to hear something about The Missing Person out of Sundance or, in today's case, a title called The Perfect Sleep. Twitch, as reliable a geek barometer as any, has shared the trailer with us, and I suspect that we're looking at a stylish return to that "straight-faced and reverent" thing I was just bringing up. A nameless man (screenwriter Anton Pardoe) looking to fight his way through thugs and assassins alike to get back to that one dame (Roselyn Sanchez, and who can blame him?) -- can you get more noir than that?

Sleep...

Los Angeles-based Unified Pictures has struck a two-picture U.S. theatrical distribution deal with Cinema Epoch for the revenge film "The Perfect Sleep," directed by Jeremy Alter and starring Roselyn Sanchez, and the romantic dramedy "Bob Funk," directed by Craig Carlisle and starring Rachel Leigh Cook.

Both films will be released in theaters this spring. Magnolia Home Entertainment will handle home video distribution.

"Funk" stars Cook, Michael Leydon Campbell, Amy Ryan, Grace Zabriskie, Eddie Jemison and Stephen Root. The film is produced by Unified's Ben Ruffman and Keith Kjarval.

It revolves around the quick-witted and sardonic title character who is fired from his job by his mother. In an attempt to regain his job and his life, he agrees to quit drinking, go to therapy and report to a new boss who just happens to be the girl he has fallen for.

"Sleep," directed by Alter from a script by Anton Pardoe,...

Unified Pictures has cast Roselyn Sanchez, Patrick Bauchau, Tony Amendola, Isaac Singleton, Peter Lucas and newcomer Anton Pardoe in the indie feature The Perfect Sleep. Set in modern times, the neo-noir feature follows a group of characters imprisoned by their past, moving toward an uncertain future. Producing and directing Perfect Sleep is first-timer Jeremy Alter, who directed the award-winning short film The Godson.