Light Sleeper

American filmmakers have a weakness for presenting a shoot-out as either the precursor of redemption or redemptive in itself; this film falls into the latter group.

The cast is skilfully alert... and Schrader's vision is unencumbered either by sentiment or cynicism.

Light Sleeper is emblematic of an era, and is recommended on that basis and on the excellent quality of it acting.

It's a failure perhaps, but an honorable failure. If it isn't saved by grace, it has many saving graces.

With his deliberate speech patterns and haunted, reptilian good looks, Dafoe is an almost nobly sad presence at the center of the film. There's something wonderfully calm about his performance, and it holds Light Sleeper together.

Dafoe completely inhabits the character, appearing in virtually every scene and developing a fascinating psychological profile.

Though well acted and never uninteresting, Light Sleeper is far less intense than most of Schrader's work and further diluted by an unrealistic ending.

From that opening use of “World on Fire”, Been’s vocals and melancholic, somber tones feel as rooted in the essence of Light Sleeper as Dafoe’s razor-sharp bone structure, or those heaps of trash bags lining the sidewalks.

...an erratic yet predominantly satisfying effort from Schrader.

It's good Schrader -- a quiet and gentle portrait of moral squalor among very fashion-conscious people who wear silk scarves and green suede jackets and lunch at Cote Basque.