Post by StevePulaski on Oct 2, 2017 21:51:01 GMT -5
Sleeper (1973)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Directed by: Woody Allen
Woody Allen holds a nose at gunpoint alongside Diane Keaton in Sleeper.
Rating: ★★★
NOTE: Part of "Woody Allen Mondays," an ongoing movie-watching event.
Woody Allen's Sleeper - featuring images and characters that find themselves on almost any Allen tribute or montage - is a big ode to the future and 1970s science-fiction. It takes a breezy look at all of the above while infusing beats from Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers with the kind of deft and grace Allen so consistently brings to the table. Just before it veers off course and runs the risk of becoming too scatterbrained, it concludes after only 87 minutes, showing Allen's desire to make everything a punchline hasn't clouded his cognizance on when to bring it all to a close.
He stars as Miles Monroe, a musician/store-owner that went for a routine surgery in 1973. We see him unearthed and released from a cryogenic freezer 200 years later, lacking motor-skills and coherence in speech until he's given some guidance by the scientists who have revived him. He awakes flustered with 22nd-century America in the background, a country operating under a police state and ruled by a dictator with an unclear agenda. Desperately lacking knowledge about social and culture icons of the past decade, the scientists decide to make use of Miles' by having him serve as an infiltrator to crack down on the soon-to-be-implemented plan of action.
Initially costumed as a servant robot, Miles goes to work for a wealthy but dim poet named Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton). Miles reveals his motivations to her and the two link up as the only true confidants of one another in a time of social upheaval.
Allen is at his most comically zealous in Sleeper, presumably so committed due to the film's purposefully bland sets rendering him the center of attention throughout the entire film. But Allen goes beyond what he's good at - verbal wit and snappy, sarcastic, joke-laden conversation - transcending his skillset to incorporate physical comedy. For the first forty-five minutes, the comic icon contorts himself in various ways, loosening his limbs and letting a full-range performance completely blossom. He's incredibly skilled, not only favoring a tone of airy slapstick but committing the physical-side and succeeding all the more.
Of course, prior to Sleeper, Allen's Bananas committed a similar brand of slapstick to film, but I wouldn't say that was as successful. Allen was still finding his tone, and Sleeper benefits from a more obvious and aware blend of influences, some more evident than others. Of course, similarities to A Clockwork Orange's sterile mood, THX 1138's costumes, and 2001: A Space Odyssey's depiction of the future are clearly present, but downplayed are some of Allen's subtler nods to H.G. Wells, as he essentially borrows the premise from his novel The Sleeper Awakes (1910). Also listen closely to the medical computer's voice in the climax of the film; you might recall flashbacks of the first time you heard HAL 9000 from 2001 speak.
Sleeper combines some of the strongest homage tendencies of Allen and pulls them together to represent an interesting and exaggerated reflection on the most extreme imaginations of the future. Paired up alongside Diane Keaton, Allen is obviously comfortable, working with a familiar face all while doing imaginative things that further extend his, at this point, still young and fertile style of humor. Also present for the first time in a film by the man are medium-length stretches with no dialog and simply the light-hearted, comically aware piano-keys that mesh in unison to create a sound that usually plays when someone steps on a banana-peel. It's a film full of good heart and a lot of nimble quirks that exemplify the best in Allen's screen-presence and writing.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Don Keefer, Mary Gregory, and John Beck. Directed by: Woody Allen.