Matt Shea
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Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
Sleeper
March 13th 2007 18:57
While not as controlled and hypnotic as Manhattan, and not as deeply self-scrutinizing as Annie Hall, Sleeper is still a classic Allen comedy, relying on his slapstick comedy and zingy one-liners. By today's standards, it feels sloppy and thrown together, especially considering Allen's later work, but there's a spirit of unrestrained glee as the movie satirizes modern culture and spoofs many notable films.
Allen plays a man that was frozen back in the 70s and is thawed out in 2173 to help a subversive organization. In 2173, the government is very Big Brotherish, and people are kept in line with a combination of drugs and orgasms. It's all very overdone for us now, but back then, before Mike Myers even thought up Austin Powers, it was probably very clever.
Diane Keaton plays a lady in the future, and Allen's comic partner... Sleeper announced her as a talent in comedy, before Annie Hall would make her a fashion icon. I never liked Keaton much as a leading lady, though she did bounce off Allen's neurosis rather well.
Fans of Allen's early work often think fondly of Sleeper, as it marked the end of his physical comedy period - of sorts. Certainly, after the mid-70s, it became increasingly difficult for Allen to do multiple takes of him slipping on banana peels, I would imagine.
Looking at this film, without its fancy CGI effects or lavish set production, you might discount it easily, but I actually adore the style... the smooth white walls, meant to look like the future, the metal robots, the jetpacks. For Allen, every movie is a labour of love, and I think relying on computer imagery distances the director from the hard celluloid.
A scene involving the drug 'orb' and a dinner party:
One of my favourite lines from the film:
"Oh, he was probably a member of the National Rifle Association. There was a group that helped criminals get guns so they could shoot citizens. It was a public service."
It's a film that makes you enjoy film for enjoyment, rather than dissecting every scene for hints about the director's mood and stool composition. It's light on the eyes, and on the mind, and Allen added a hefty chapter to the American sense of satire when he made this film.
I say: Sleeper makes great viewing on a rainy Sunday, when you're close to falling asleep.
See it for: Allen wrote all the Dixieland jazz music in the film, and while it's not great, it sounds like an aural recording of his neurosis.
* images taken from the Diane Keaton Italian Site and Wikipedia
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Comment by David
Nice to know I'm not the only one awake at this hour ...
My favourite line:
(Not from the film, from your Post)
Oh to be a writer/director/producer (and a Diplomat) ...
David ...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Sleeper is my favourite Woodly Allen film, next to Bannanas. Ingenious comedy.
Love the dialogue-"When I asked my mother where babies came from, she thought I said "rabies." She said you get them from being bitten by a dog. The next week, a woman on my block gave birth to triplets... I thought she'd been bitten by a great dane."
Comment by Cibbuano
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JD, your favourite? Interesting... yeah, great lines... how about that VW bug that starts after 500 years?
You liked Bananas? I started it but gave up.. it was too silly, and the volume on the DVD was frustrating. Is it worth a second attempt?
Comment by Damo
Everything from the robot repair shop to the blob in the kitchen.
Bananas is also terrific but Zelig is his last really funny film.
After that he started getting all serious, clever and a tad boring.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Theresa
Today's World
I took my younger sister to see Sleeper and Bananas at the movies, and she's blamed me for her perverse sense of humor ever since.
JD, isn't it Bananas where Allen is being carried on a cross in New York, horizontally, and can't find a parking space? That scene just stays in the mind, still.....
Theresa
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Theresa
Today's World
I'm going to guess before you were born...?
It was the Grand Lake Theatre, in Oakland, CA, when the films were released.
Sometimes I took my sister for appropriate activities, rowing on the lake, something nice...
And, then other times, I was just practicing for being bad, so we went to see Woody Allen movies.
Having been raised in a strict (though loving) Catholic household, my sister and I swore never to mention seeing the cross scene over the dinner table. The family never knew...
But we laughed so hard at the movie, I guess we were never quite the same...
Theresa
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Theresa
Today's World
It was all right, just like what folks are doing now is all right.
But, I am not going to go see an LZ tribute band
I'm still debating with offspring ownership of the Beatles. My eyebrows hit my hairline when the meaning of Beatles music was being explained to me by second-gen....
Theresa
Comment by Shaydi Rhode
Shaydi dates
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shaydi
Comment by Cibbuano
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otherwise, you might want to try your local library. Mine has a lot of early Allen movies, and I suggest that you don't miss out!
Here's my review of Manhattan
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I can switch my brain off and enjoy it, or ponder the observations it makes for hours after either film ends.
Stardust Memories hits me in teh heart and head simulatneously and I love it too.
10 of my fave Woody Allen Directorial efforts:
Broadway Danny Rose
Take The Money and Run
Love and Death
Zelig
Radio Days
Everything you ever wanted to know about sex....
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Deconstructing harry
Sweet and Lowdown
Bulletts Over Broadway.
For Allen scripts Play It Again Sam and What's New Pussycat are my two top ones.
Comment by Lilla
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...look, I don't know about seducing Dianne Keaton... (not my cup of tea)... but this is one of my all time favourite movies for a great laugh... over and over again... I think it was Woody's Best and most ingenious... and no one will change my mind...
LMAO just thinking about it ...him, playing that silly house robot at the orb-party... the President, the resitenace, the pudding in the kitchen...I could go on
Put simply, there are two types of people in thsi world : those that have seen this film and those that have not...
Lilla~