Fresh and Exciting

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The plot: A Mexican laborer, falsely targeted by the USA as a terrorist, goes to work for a "sleep factory", where he remotely operates robots for American corporations.Sleep Dealer is a return to classic cyperpunk, like the early novels of William Gibson. It's a very believable world, full of near-future tech that's both intriguing and disheartening. Like Gibson's leftist criticism back in the 1980s, it examines globalism, isolationism, nationalism, and imperialism. It never becomes anti-American, but it probably will offend some conservative Americans. Some of the ideas are really great, and I liked how the movie played with current technological and political trends. Hopefully, if the movie were made today, it'd be a little more optimistic, but I kind of doubt it.The biggest problem I had with Sleep Dealer was that it was so overt and explicit about its themes. Perhaps the director thought that these themes were too important to be coy about them. Regardless, it came across as a bit unsubtle and preachy. If you agree with the premises, you'll probably be pretty forgiving. Unfortunately, the acting isn't all that great, though it's good enough for a low budget, genre film. The special effects are a bit iffy, as well, but most people probably aren't expecting Avatar.As long as you're willing to overlook some faults, this is an enjoyable and socially conscious science fiction movie that anyone can enjoy, regardless of their nationality.

An interesting and innovative Mexican indie sci-fi movie.The movie is full of great ideas, the acting is OK (nothing of Pedestrian as some critics claim!), and reflects on modern issues but fast-forwarding them and imagining them in the near future, in which Mexico has become a colony of the USA, which controls the mains sources of wealth, and many of the youth has become a seedbed of cheap labor across the border - A world of semi-slaves who live and work with their bodies connected to a networking machine, economically impoverished and emotionally craving affection and human connection.The special effects resent the lack of money, as they would have required a bigger budget to make them real and not that cheesy. However, this somewhat does not affect the believability of the movie and of its thoughtful approach to the future.The script has highs and lows, ends predictably, and it has and some story flaws, the result being uneven. However, the movie has a terrific mood and atmosphere, a lovely believable personal story, and great depth.The movie is believable most of the time, despite its flaws and lack of money, and a good start for director Alex Rivera. Somebody to watch out from now on.The movie was released in Sundance in 2008 and won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize.

Hollywood seems to have no use for a certain point of view, much to its own cultural diminution. Probably the single most repeated objective seen in the US history with Latin-America is its wish to garner the lion's share of the profits from its economic development. This is one of the very few movies to take the side of those being exploited and on that basis alone, I'd be happy to recommend it to any serious movie goer. But there's much more here than just that. There's real skill on display in its execution and conception. This is a low budget film, but its ability to say a great deal anyway, and especially through science fiction, is positively inspirational. Leonor Varela graces the screen like some impossibly dusky cinematic angel. And Luis Fernando Peña is also spot on.This film won some important awards, but, not surprisingly, I never heard of it until I was lucky enough to find it on my Blockbuster shelf. I'd love to see its director, Alex Rivera, continue on in this theme, but having heard about the small-mindedness of Hollywood, I can't help thinking this might be his only film.

This is a better sci-fi than "Surrogates." The same weekend (June 20-21) that I saw Duncan Jones' "Moon", I was fortunate to catch the indie sci-fi "Sleep Dealer," an outstanding debut film by Alex Rivera, who also co-wrote the script. The movie poster image was impressive: a human body with several wired plug-in nodes (somehow it gave a chilling memory of "Maria Full of Grace" 2004, where Maria the carrier consumed pellets into her body - similar body for sale aspect). It briefly reminds me of William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" (1995, with Keanu Reeves and Ice-T).A presumably simple story yet it will absorb you to attentively follow the plot and be anxious about what will happen next. The script is full of global diversity awareness and touching on current social issues like outsourcing by corporations, 'cheap labor' and satellite communications, technological connections by downloading - "nodes plug-in's for remote work order." In the center of it all, a family-related human drama is not forgotten - providing possible clues to story threads and a pensive ending (depending on how you view it, of course). No wonder Rivera won the screen writing award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, besides winning the feature film prize.Director Rivera made a point to include both English and Spanish credit titles with each name listed at the end credit roll - appreciate his inclusiveness and being cognizant of diverse and global sensibility in "Sleep Dealer." At the opening credits, noted interesting production company names: "Likely Story" (indeed!) and "This is That" Productions. Check out the official web site 'sleepdealer.com' for more on this gem of a sci-fi.See "Surrogates" unless you're a 'die hard' Bruce Willis fan. See "District 9" for aliens premise and glorious sci-fi action (and storyline with a twist). But do not miss "Moon" and "Sleep Dealer" - remarkable sci-fi films released this year of 2009, both directorial debut features from two talented and promising filmmakers: Duncan Jones and Alex Rivera respectively.