Sleep Dealer (2008)

66% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
40% of users liked it
(115,204 ratings)

In a bleak future where the borders have been sealed, vast computer networks commodify memories, and corporate warriors have been militarized, a tech-savvy "campesino" from a small Santa Ana farm village discovers a mysterious transmission that seems to be a blueprint for the city of the future.… More In a bleak future where the borders have been sealed, vast computer networks commodify memories, and corporate warriors have been militarized, a tech-savvy "campesino" from a small Santa Ana farm village discovers a mysterious transmission that seems to be a blueprint for the city of the future. Memo Cruz lives with his family in Santa Ana del Rio, a remote farming community that has recently been hijacked by a private company. Having already taken control of the entire area's water supply, the company is now seeking to sell the precious resource back to citizens at criminal prices. As a result, aqua-terrorist cells have recently formed, with the explicit goal of taking back the water supply by force if necessary. Despite the growing tension in Santa Ana, however, all Memo really cares about is technology. Memo longs to find employment as a node worker in the high-tech factories of the northern cities, and has recently constructed a transmitter that allows him to vicariously experience the lives of others. One evening, while surfing the local airwaves, the gifted eavesdropper locks onto a forbidden broadcast not intended for the general public -- a broadcast that lays out explicit plans for creating a future that Memo could have never imagined. Subsequently targeted by the government -- which has discovered evidence of his radio intercept and now views him as a direct threat -- Memo must flee to Tijuana after his home is destroyed in a violent remote-control bombing. Memo hopes to find work in Tijuana, and along the way he meets aspiring journalist Luz, a bright young woman in search of her breakthrough story. Later, after selling some of her memories online to a mysterious client, Luz helps Memo acquire the nodes he needs to connect to the network and get a job. As Memo plugs his body into the system and discovers that work in a high-tech factory can be fairly treacherous, Luz works to uncover the identity of her biggest fan, and these three unsuspecting individuals become caught up in a plot that could transform their world forever. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Alex Rivera
Written By: Alex Rivera, David Riker
Genres: Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Jan 19, 2009 Wide
On DVD: Sep 8, 2009
Studio: Maya Releasing

Critic Reviews

Peter Hartlaub, Houston Chronicle
Sleep Dealer is flawed, but still vibrant and inventive. Whether he finds larger budgets or keeps doing movie like this, Rivera is definitely a filmmaker to follow.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Alex Rivera's overstuffed but intriguing feature debut, Sleep Dealer, takes a speculative leap into Tijuana's near future, imagining the next evolution of cheap labor.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Clearly, Rivera knows one of the great gifts of the sci-fi genre. An uncanny world invites new ways of seeing. It offers new chances to ask the hard -- and too often, hardened -- questions.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
The combination of rusty amateurism, future technology, and clear-and-present politics creates a trippy time-space kick: This dusty little movie feels like yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Adventurous, ambitious and ingeniously futuristic, Sleep Dealer is a welcome surprise.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
Sleep Dealer is an unusually thoughtful science fiction film, using the speculative energy of the genre to explore some troubling and complex contemporary issues.
David Thomas, Filmcritic.com
what you'll be left with after seeing Sleep Dealer is not a collection of cool scenes so much as a collection of compelling questions about where our world is headed
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
Made on the cheap compared to Hollywood flicks, this thrillingly original and heartfelt Mexican film is a truly human story about the impact of technology on individuals and on society.
Jordan Hoffman, UGO
This Sundance hit takes the "jacking in" premise we've seen in everything from Neuromancer to eXistenZ and looks at it from the point of view of third world migrant workers.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
Sleep Dealer is reminiscent of a Philip K. Dick dystopia that might actually read better than it looks here, with average acting, slightly incoherent plotting and cheap special effects.
Brian Tallerico, Movie Retriever
I'm glad to have science fiction back in the forefront in 2009 but that doesn't mean they're all going to work. Consider Sleep Dealer a near-miss.
Todd Gilchrist, Sci Fi Wire
Writer-director Alex Rivera crafts a smart, lean and engaging science fiction opus that proves you only need a little money if you have a lot of ideas.
Luke Y. Thompson, E! Online
Occasionally shaky effects are the biggest drawback in a mostly smart sci-fi cautionary tale.
Matt Pais, Metromix.com
A jumbled vision ... too many predictable lines like, 'Sometimes you control the machine, and sometimes the machine controls you.'
Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
This inventive indie sci-fi movie has plenty of big ideas to make up for its small budget.
Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
Modest sci-fi entry out of Mexico %u2013 about the ultimate offshore labor force - shows impressive vision but lacks the story to keep it going.
Simon Abrams, New York Press
Sleep Dealer should have something striking to say about what the future looks like according to the third-world workers that are building it at their own expense but it has nothing memorable nor particularly coherent to offer.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Gripey dystopian concepts do not a complete movie make.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Thomas J

Other than a few cheesy special effects... this was a really good story about a guy willing to really do all he can to help his family and a stranger willing to try correct an injustice. It is a future I can see becoming a reality and I hope their are still people with good hearts in… More
Other than a few cheesy special effects... this was a really good story about a guy willing to really do all he can to help his family and a stranger willing to try correct an injustice. It is a future I can see becoming a reality and I hope their are still people with good hearts in a jaded day.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Sleep Dealer," Memo(Luis Fernando Pena) lives in an arid section of Mexico where he and his father(Jose Concepcion Macias) have to now pay for water which was once free for the taking because of a new dam built by a multinational corporation. In his… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Sleep Dealer," Memo(Luis Fernando Pena) lives in an arid section of Mexico where he and his father(Jose Concepcion Macias) have to now pay for water which was once free for the taking because of a new dam built by a multinational corporation. In his spare time, Memo is an amateur hacker and accidentally accesses a military channel which brings down the wrath of the military and reality television, and his father is killed by a remotely controlled military drone. Having no reason to stay, he travels to Tijuana to seek his fortune. Along the way, he meets Luz(Leonor Varela), a writer, who sells her memories on line through a series of nodes installed on her body. The nodes also allow for workers to work remotely from Tijuana since the border was closed, projecting themselves into other countries.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Set in a remarkably familiar-looking near future, "Sleep Dealer" is an intelligent allegory about the modern world, focusing on themes of globalization and the war on error. This is what science fiction should be about, more ideas than just the empty spectacles we will be subjected in weeks to come. It just goes to prove that what happens in plain sight can be scarier than any grand conspiracy we can ever dream up. Regrettably, the ending is a little too predictable and audience pleasing, though. [/font]

Cast

Luis Fernando Pena
as Memo Cruz
Leonor Varela
as Luz Martinez
Jacob Vargas
as Rudy Ramirez

Tenoch Huerta Mejía
as David Cruz
Meztli Adamina
as Dolores Cruz
Jose Concepión Macías
as Miguel Cruz

See full cast

Sleep Dealer (2008)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Thomas J

Walter M

Cast

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