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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

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United Kingdom, United States · 2003
Rated R · 1h 37m
Director Mike Hodges
Starring Clive Owen, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Charlotte Rampling, Malcolm McDowell
Genre Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Will Graham, a London crime boss, abandons his former life. Haunted by the blood of those he has murdered, Will wishes never to return. But when his brother commits suicide following a sexual assault, Will returns to London to discover the true cause of his brother's death and administer justice to those responsible.

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What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

60

Film Threat by

A consuming and stimulating work and a theoretical thriller, it is a film which could only be created by a remarkably skillful filmmaker.

70

The New York Times by Dana Stevens

"Croupier," the director's comeback film of 2000, which also starred Mr. Owen, is a riskier, more interesting exercise in English noir than I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, but the new film, whose title comes from a Warren Zevon song, nonetheless serves as a fine stylistic showpiece.

75

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

In order to appreciate I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, you have to be willing to absorb unhurried film noir, and to accept that the film's version of "closure" is a little frustrating.

50

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

An atmospheric but sluggish and needlessly confusing British contemporary film noir that may indeed leave some audience members struggling to stay awake.

50

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

Director Mike Hodges and screenwriter Trevor Preston's dark revenge tale strips its crime-story cliches of their hopped-up energy and seedy glamour, leaving nothing but sordid sadness.

20

Village Voice by Michael Atkinson

Wallows in the same affected retro stylishness as the earlier film (Croupier), suffers from the same lack of narrative focus, and is just as choked with clichés.

83

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

The film is held together by Clive Owen, who spends most of his time on screen hidden beneath matted hair and a scruffy beard but still has more aura than any actor around.

70

Time by Richard Schickel

If you surrender to the film's often inexplicable rhythms, if you let its dark materials reach out and envelop you, it can be a curiously rewarding experience -- a blend of silences and sudden bursts of violence that, despite its highly stylized manner, feels more edgily lifelike and more disturbing than most movies.

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