Sleepless

[Quint]

For a while now I have wanted to sample a Dario Argento film and saw that this has had a recent R2 release that looks (on paper anyway) excellent :)

So is the film any good and is it a good place to start with argentos work? Would also like to know if the R2 is as good as it sounds?

Cheers

[Dagada]

The R2 release is pretty good. It's uncut, but the documentary on disc 2 looks like it's been snipped! The picture and sound are mostly good, although the dubbing is sometimes a little out of sync and I noticed a few artifacts here and there on my copy.

The film.... Some people really like it. For me, it has some superb scenes. The opening section on the train is Argento on top form, but then it all falls over a bit. The plot has a few holes too many and some of the violence is REALLY nasty. I saw this at a film fest a while ago and was expecting many things to be cut - especially the scene with the oboe. I'd say this is maybe as nasty as Opera. It's a return to the Giallo pulp thriller style that Argento really made his name with, more along the lines of For Flies than Tenebrae, and has a clear reference to Profondo Rosso later in the film.

Personally, I think Tenebrae and Deep Red are the best films, and Anchor Bay do lovely region free uncut editions, but this is not a bad place to start. Just remember he's done better!

[Shingster]

This is how i'd rank the Argento films i've seen:

Deep Red
Suspiria
Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Cat O Nine Tails

Those are the good ones, now for the ones I weren't that keen on:

Tenebre
Inferno
Trauma
Stendahl Syndrome

[pmdf]

Originally posted by Shingster

now for the ones I weren't that keen on
Tenebre
Inferno


Sacrilege! ;) Tenebrae is excellent, and Inferno is up with the very, very best of Argento! Although admittedly I hated Inferno myself on first viewing. Second viewing I liked it, and by the third it had established itself as one of my favourite films... so stick with it! :)

Unfortunately I'm seemingly one of the few Argento fans who found Nonhosonno/Sleepless underwhelming. As previously mentioned, the opening sequence is classic Argento and the soundtrack is superb. Much of the rest of the film I found too derivative, self-referential and even lacking in atmosphere, I hate to say. It does have its moments however. I also much preferred the Italian language track (available on the Italian Medusa DVD) to the (occasionally silly) English track. It's not a bad film though, certainly better than Cat O' Nine Tails or Phantom of the Opera - the only two of Dario's films that I've never really been able to enjoy.

I wouldn't recommend Sleepless as a first Argento myself (try Suspiria, Deep Red or Tenebrae as excellent and easy introductions and I also rate Phenomena as an absurdly fantastic film, although many seem to disagree). But if you do take the plunge then I hope you enjoy it because, as I say, I do seem to be in the minority in not rating this one.

[johnb.w]

I have a copy of 'Sleepless' which plays as region 0 although the case says region 0 the two discs say region 2. The film runs for 112.12 which is 4.88 minutes short. Disc 2 feature runs 56.47 minutes. Any comments.

[Dagada]

Originally posted by johnb.w
I have a copy of 'Sleepless' which plays as region 0 although the case says region 0 the two discs say region 2. The film runs for 112.12 which is 4.88 minutes short. Disc 2 feature runs 56.47 minutes. Any comments.

Short of what? If you're talking about the times listed on IMDB or such sites, don't forget to take into consideration that you loose about that amount of time in the conversion from film to video.

This version is exactly the same as the uncut version I saw.

[johnb.w]

Thankyou Dagada for the info. I just felt as though something was missing following a rapid fade out when ballerina got her head chopped off. Cheers mate, John.

[Dagada]

Should point out that the documentary seems to be missing a couple of frames here and there in comparison to what was shown on C4, but that could be the fact that I've seen the uncut scenes clouding my memory there. Anyhoo, I'll be seeing an uncut version of Sleepless, AKA Nohosonno, in a few weeks time with subs instead of a dub, and I'll let you know if there's anything extra in there.