{"id":47566,"date":"2025-05-06T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=47566"},"modified":"2025-05-05T23:52:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T03:52:03","slug":"cinema-of-sleep-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/06\/cinema-of-sleep-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinema of Sleep (2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An immigrant from Nigeria is caught up in a mind bending puzzle when a woman needing his help turns up dead in his motel room in the psychological thriller, Cinema of Sleep.<\/p>\n

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For as long as film has existed, it’s been used as a soapbox for change. Political views, societal commentaries, and virtually anything in between, told allegorically through stories that make a statement. But in order for that to work, the story being told needs to make sense. And while Cinema of Sleep tries hard to make a statement about nanny things that are both poignant and timely, it feels as though it gets muddled through a convoluted story that doesn’t quite resolve itself to satisfaction.<\/div>\n
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While it’s directed well enough and makes use of its setting in a unique way that never feels redundant or claustrophobic, despite being largely told from a single motel room, the story feels just slightly too complicated for its own good. With a nonlinear story that doesn’t quite make it clear where in the timeline the scene we’re watching is occurring, the attempt at being a modernized commentary through a Lynchian style Twilight Zone lens is rather lost to its own complexity. Still, I applaud what Jeffrey St. Jules managed to pull off. It did keep me interested until the very last frame.<\/div>\n
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The biggest highlight for me, however, came in the form of Dayo Ade, who plays the lead character in such an emotionally deep and inviting way that you can’t help but hang in there to find out what happens. He’s the best part of the entire project, and even manages to recover some of the love lost through bad acting on behalf of some of the supporting cast. Detectives played like caricatures, complete with permanently scowling mouths and fedoras, and a drunk guy who sounds like a bad impression of what he thinks a drunk guy should sound like, are distractions from the otherwise greatness of Ade and the female counterpart, played by a striking and boldly wonderful Getenesh Berhe.<\/div>\n
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There isn’t much in the way of effects or score here, and the cinematography unfortunately feels like a low budget project, but Cinema of Sleep definitely tries to make up for this with a unique style and a heavier focus on the story. I noticed a few irregularities in the coloration during a few scenes, with the black and white gaining a pink hue on occasion, but this was minimal and not as frequent towards the end of the film.<\/div>\n
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All in all, it’s a good effort, I only wish it would’ve focused a little more on making sense. I got the overall themes that were trying to be conveyed, from the difficulties of immigrants seeking asylum to the great fear that comes from being in a foreign land, but it felt like these statements were never fully realized in a way that makes an impact. Which is a shame, because it could’ve had so much more to say. A more concise resolution, combined with better supporting cast, would’ve made Cinema of Sleep into an amazing project to behold.<\/div>\n
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An immigrant from Nigeria is caught up in a mind bending puzzle when a woman needing his help turns up dead in his motel room in the psychological thriller, Cinema of Sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[703,1087],"class_list":["post-47566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-mystery","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47567,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47566\/revisions\/47567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}