SHEDDING INK

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

To call I'll Sleep When I'm Dead enigmatic would be like calling Hillary Clinton oblivious. It's an overstatement of grand proportions. This particular tale of vengeance has a disturbingly unexpected means of instigating the return of our protagonist to the world of gangsters and lowlifes he abandoned, surrounded by a gaggle of unresolved subplots. All of them are methods of examination into his former life, but their incompleteness only makes him more of an enigma; and I'll be damned if I can figure out how the film's opening and closing bookends relate to what transpired between them. But I do know I was deeply interested to find out. I'm all for leaving art open to interpretation, but come on. At least I can whole-heartedly recommend the previous collaboration between Hodges and Owen—Croupier.

- January 15, 2008

DVD Extras

Bupkis, which is disappointing given how much I actually wanted to see some more information on this movie. All I got was a lousy bunch of trailers.

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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)

A retired gangster returns to avenge the grizzly death of his little brother.


Directed by Mike Hodges


Written by Trevor Preston


Starring Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malcolm McDowell

103 minutes
R (language, rape, violence, drug use)

Movie: B-
Extras: D