By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Alex Rivera
Starring: Giovanna Zacarías | Jacob Vargas | Leonor Varela | Luis Fernando Peña
Country: mexico, united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804529/
Jason says: “Science fiction on film is tricky. The money to do spectacle generally comes with strings attached, but without it, a filmmaker runs the risk of having their world look unconvincing or settling for using their big ideas to tell a small story. Alex Rivera’s SLEEP DEALER has managed to scrape together enough to have some scope even as it tells a ground-level story.
“Memo Cruz (Luis Fernando Peña) starts out on his father’s farm in Santa Ana del Rio, Oaxaca, Mexico. It used to be impressive, but now it’s marginal; an American company has dammed the nearby river and the Cruzes are forced to buy their water from the reservoir. When Memo’s ham radio is mistaken for a terrorist spy, he heads north to Tijuana, intending to find work tele-operating robots in wealthier nations. Along the way, he meets Luz (Leonor Varela), a writer whose blog entries are commentary on her memories uploaded directly to the net. Not many people are buying, although her entries on Memo have attracted the attention of Rudolfoz ‘Rudy’ Rodriguez (Jacob Vargas), who, ironically, teleoperates weaponry in Mexico from San Diego.
“If there’s a theme to the future of SLEEP DEALER, it’s that the more things change, the more they stay the same, at least for poor countries like Mexico; the indignities just creep in closer. America dams the rivers and then sells locals their own water back at inflated prices, and now they can get cheap Mexican labor and still have the border locked down tight (the film’s title is the term for the warehouses along the border where low-paid workers manipulate robots around the world, despite the toll so much VR takes on their bodies and eyesight). If you thought Cops was exploitative, wait until you see Drones.
“That’s an earnedly cynical view of the future, and that’s before getting to the Matrix-style nodes the characters have implanted in their bodies for interfacing with the net. As creepy as the pods in The Matrix were, there’s something even more uncaring about the sleep factories, as the workers stand for hours on end, wearing oxygen masks to keep them alert and milky contact lenses. It’s not an anti-technology movie, though – although there are slight hints of body horror as we’re introduced to the nodes, it’s mostly treated as an ethically neutral technology: A little unsettling at first, but fascinating and useful. Those spots of silver are our main reminder that we’re in the future, but there’s a lot of nice details that establish the period while also sneaking in the occasional bit of satire.
“It’s good that Rivera’s setting gives the audience a fair amount of food for thought, because the story is kind of lightweight. The cast does well enough by the characters, never pulling the audience out of the movie. There are straightforward parallels in the guilt both Memo and Rudy feel over what happens in the first half of the movie as well as how they each work in the other’s country without crossing the border. I do like how Rivera winds up kick-starting the story out of something that had been introduced as black comedy, and though the end is a bit contrived, it’s enough fun that I wish there had been a little more room in the effects budget for it. The effects themselves are actually pretty decent – it’s impressive what can be done on a small budget these days, so long as the director chooses his spots right, which Rivera, by and large, does.
“Rivera’s put together a nice science fiction story here, from a perspective not frequently seen in the genre, at least on film. SLEEP DEALER is both good speculation and allegory, well worth seeking out for those interested in science fiction that does more than overpower them. 4 cats
“Seen 16 May 2009 at the Brattle Theater (Special Engagement)”
Julie says: “This movie is a must see! I was blown away by what the director was able to accomplish with this film and with a tiny budget at that. Re sci-fi/special effects, I will add the caveat that I’m not too big on special effects, being more impressed by old school, such as stop motion animation, so take my review as you will.
“This is a case where you must see the film (at least once) on dvd so as to see how this film came to fruition. Since Jason gave a through and accurate review of this film, I won’t review it again except to add that:
“Leonor Varela was fabulous as Luz and will surely get a nomination from me this year.
“Also, cinematographer Lisa Rinzler did an excellent job with the lighting.
“I’m interested to see Luis Fernando Pena (Memo) in SIN NOMBRE. His character was a very quiet one in THE SLEEP DEALER and I’m wondering about his range. He didn’t stand out for me in this movie but he didn’t do a bad job either.
“so moving forward this review will be about how the film came to be, which is pretty amazing!
“The film is eerily prophetic considering that the idea arose in 1997 in the mind of director Alex Rivera, who never went to film school and instead studied political science and documentary in college.
“‘The first seed of an idea came to me in 1997. I was living in New York City, working as an editor, and the dot-com economy was booming. The cover of WIRED magazine prophesized the coming of a ‘Global Village.’ At the same time, the Clinton administration was executing ‘Operation Gatekeeper,’ and building a wall on the border with Mexico. Governor Wilson in California was supporting a series of propositions that attacked immigrant children. Something odd was going on—as the world was connecting through technology, it was becoming more divided by borders. It dawned on me that the ‘Global Village,’ seen from the other side of the giant border wall, must look pretty strange.
“‘So I started a process of thinking about the future from that point of view. Over the years, I mapped out a near-future world of open technology and closed borders, and I slowly began to imagine a few characters who would live in this world, and give us access to a different points of view on it.'”
“This film was first attempted by Rivera and then given up as being too costly and difficult to make. The idea was later presented to writer David Riker (ie a common acquaintance told David he had to meet Alex, that he had the perfect idea for a screenplay). David originally turned it down for the reason that, although it was a fantastic idea, it would cost too much to make ( he had estimated at least 35 million). He came around the next day after a call telling him he had to take this project (I am not sure who this person was-a colleague I assume- it’s in the special features section).
“Eventually Rivera was invited to work on his film at the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program labs (the writers lab, and then the directors lab). At Sundance Rivera met his producer and that ultimately led him an investor. (Rivera collaborated with Sundance for 8 years on this project having spent 2 years on the project before Sundance).
“What is truly amazing is how this film was put together on a very small budget. Many interesting tricks were done and they worked well for the most part. Ironically at the end of the film, the 450 visual effects shots were contributed remotely by 20 different groups of people(student interns in San Francisco, artists in India and in China as well as a whole set of artists around New York). ‘Everyone FTP’ing files all over the place. Design work was done in one part of the world and rendering in another. This type of global collaboration would not have been possible a few years ago.’ 4 1/4 cats”
Toni says: “Who needs the effects of AVATAR, when you have a sincere sci-fi blended with social commentary that is not forced like in this film, SLEEP DEALER? The story has some reality in it which is fascinating based on the idea of Latin American immigrant telecommuting through nodes for American work, memories being viewed as images and sold and also used for storytelling, and the idea of buying people’s drinking water and selling it back to them. The theme of the ‘border’ is quite symbolic from the actual Mexican future border to’crossing over’ from reality to an enhanced reality for folks who are lost or on the edge of sanity.
“I think this film is this year’s TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER in the sense that it is an atypical genre film that is blends a few different genres with a look and feel of its own and is a brave film with a very small budget for what has accomplished. I will also add that the exotic score from Tom and Andy that mixes electronic and Mexican country sounds meshed quite well with scenes
without making you lose focus on the film.
“After seeing this film and the ‘Before the Making of’ and hearing most of the commentary, I can appreciate this film even more. For example, the director mentions voice overs that were added at the end of the film to add to the narrative even though that may seem to conventional it works in this scenario. I hope to see the director’s former documentary and look forward to seeing his upcoming projects! 4 1/2 Nodes”
Thom says: “This is another charmer from the Chlotrudis Screening Clan. This Mexican sci-fi feature takes place sometime in the near future where the world appears to be run by machines. An exceedingly sweet young man, Memo (Luis Fernando Peña), lives with his parents and brother in a backwater Mexican village where Memo has built a powerful tech system that picks up computer conversations from around the globe. The powers that be discover the connection and bomb the area wiping out Memo’s father. Memo heads off to Tijuana where he has fashionable metal nodes attached to his body. He starts working for a company that does multifarious jobs around the world by hooking into the ‘system’ with their employees’ nodes and the ‘Sleep Dealer’ can direct machines to complete any known task. He meets a lovely young woman and he falls in love with her, not knowing her agenda, which includes him. The film has a vivacious, modern look to it using lush double images and imaginative angles to bring an ominous “look”. Since we never discover who runs this disparate system or what brought it about the film lacks some power, but its sense of humor is terrific. Peña brings a distracted quality to his part that is often very endearing. One caveat: if you see the screening version prepare for the words ‘Property of Magna Entertainment’ to lay over every frame, right in the middle of the picture, annoying, if not down right maddening. 4 cats”
Diane says: “Cool, creepy, somewhat conventional, and…political. What I liked best about SLEEP DEALER was the tele-operating/nodes idea and the look of the technology (including the memory storage card Luz gives to Memo). Kudos to Alex Rivera for handling direction, writing, and editing. 4 cats.”
“For more on selling memories, try ‘Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz,’ a 1992 short story by George Saunders (The New Yorker, October 5, 1992, p. 148.) http://www.drwrite.com/analyzing/stories/offload.shtml”