Themes: Out For Revenge, Dishonor Among Thieves, Drug Trade
Main Cast: Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Malcolm McDowell, Jamie Foreman
Release Year: 2003
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
For I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, director Mike Hodges re-teams with Trevor Preston, the respected British television writer with whom he made a series of documentaries for ITV back in the 1960s. The film also brings the director together again with actor Clive Owen, the star of his previous film, Croupier, which signaled Hodges' resurgence. Owen plays Will Graham, a former London gangster who moved out to the country after suffering a breakdown of some sort. Will works clearing forests, and lives out of his van, until he loses his job over a lack of proper documentation. Meanwhile, Will's younger brother, Davey, is enjoying his life as a womanizing man about town, and dabbling in drug dealing, until one night, when an older man, Boad (Malcolm McDowell), has him followed and brutally assaults him. The traumatized Davey returns home and takes his own life. Will, uncertain as to where to go, finds himself drawn back to London, where he learns of Davey's death from Mrs. Barz (Sylvia Syms), his landlady. Will investigates what happened that night with his old friend, Mickser (Jamie Foreman). As Will tries to piece together what happened, he goes to visit Helen (Charlotte Rampling), his former lover, who is less than thrilled to see him after he abandoned her years earlier and eventually cut off all contact. The current neighborhood crime boss, Turner (Ken Stott), knows what Will is capable of, and sees him as a threat. Eventually, Will uncovers the truth, and is faced with the unpleasant prospect of avenging Davey's death. Screenwriter Preston took the title for the film from a sardonic song by the late Warren Zevon. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Mike Hodges returns to the territory of his acclaimed debut, Get Carter, with I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, in which a former gangster seeks vengeance for his dead brother. But the newer film is much more contemplative, in the manner of Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, which itself paid homage to Hodges' earlier work. Hodges' elliptical treatment of Trevor Preston's screenplay allows the narrative strands to come together gradually, and continually thwarts genre expectations with its somber, thoughtful treatment of the brutal subject matter. The director's shadowy mise-en-scène , as shot by Michael Garfath, who also lensed Croupier, harkens back to the classic gangster movies of the 1940s and the work of John Alton on films like Anthony Mann's T-Men. The visuals set the dour tone of the film brilliantly, providing a visual corollary for the hopeless moral morass in which Will Graham (Clive Owen) finds (or perhaps loses) himself. Owen, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Davey), and Charlotte Rampling (Helen) deliver expert, nuanced performances, subtly filling out details in the characters and their relationships that the economical script only hints at. Jamie Foreman (Mickser) is also quite good, while Malcolm McDowell is perhaps a bit shrill as the enigmatic Boad. To the filmmakers' credit, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead offers no simple, satisfying solutions to the mysteries at its core, and no pat answers to Will's dilemma. Those looking for a typical revenge drama may be disappointed by this film's cold, grim approach and its unhurried pace, but the film offers many rewards for those seeking something a bit more challenging. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Ken Stott - Frank Turner; Sylvia Syms - Mrs. Bartz; Geoff Ball - Arnie Ryan; Desmond Baylis - Cannibal (Jez); Kirris Riviere - Big John; Brian Croucher - Al Shaw; Ross Boatman - Malone; Marc O'Shea - Paulin; Alexander Morton; Noel Clarke - Cyril
Credit
John Ralph - Art Director, Leo Davis - Casting, Marisa Polvino - Co-producer, Evangeline Averre - Costume Designer, Richard Whelan - First Assistant Director, Mike Hodges - Director, Paul Carlin - Editor, Roger Marino - Executive Producer, Robert O. Kaplan - Executive Producer, Richard E. Johnson - Executive Producer, Trisha Van Klaveren - Executive Producer, Simon Fisher Turner - Composer (Music Score), Jon Bunker - Production Designer, Michael Garfath - Cinematographer, Michael Corrente - Producer, Mike Kaplan - Producer, George Richards - Sound/Sound Designer, Paul Carr - Sound/Sound Designer, Max Bygrave - Sound/Sound Designer, Trevor Preston - Screenwriter
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is a 2004 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges, from a screenplay by Trevor Preston. The film bears many striking similarities to Hodges' directorial debut, the classic 1971 crime drama Get Carter. Both films feature men who return to their former hometowns to investigate the death of a brother who has died under mysterious circumstances.
Academy Award nominee Clive Owen stars as Will Graham, a former Londoncrime boss who has left his former life to live as a recluse in the forest. Haunted by the blood of those he has murdered, Will wishes never to return. But when his brother (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) commits suicide, following a sexual assault at the hands of a volatile car dealer (Malcolm McDowell), Will returns to London to discover the cause of his brother's death and administer justice to those responsible. There he must also face old enemies and a former love, Helen (Charlotte Rampling).
Reception
The film received very mixed reviews. On the website RottenTomatoes.com it sports a 44% approval rating, certifying it as "rotten". One of the common complaints among its critics is that they felt it moved much too slowly. Despite its detractors, however, Hodges' movie managed to find some formidable defenders. Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying, "...there is a tangible pleasure in following enigmatic characters through the shadows of their lives; deprived for a time of plot, given characters who are not clearly labeled and assigned moral categories, we're allowed to make judgments based on their manner and speech." Writing for the New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "Does the film work? All I know is that it stays in my mind for its ambitiously autumnal essence, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea." According to Owen Gleiberman, "Hodges...still knows how to unspool a mystery with a hypnotic pace of sadistic intrigue." Slant Magazine's Nick Schager awarded the film a full four stars.
Box office
The film was released on June 16, 2004 and grossed $13,415 in the opening weekend. It went onto gross $360,759 domestically and $130,205 in the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $490,964.[2]
