Airy yet dangerous, Schrader's screenplay about an insomniac drug
delivery man (Dafoe) and his high-class dealer (Sarandon) continues
his series on the alienated urban male (Taxi Driver, American Gigolo,
Bringing Out the Dead). There's an insensate detachment to it which
feels like perpetual wakefulness - the whole film needs caffeine. It's
a red-eyed, debilitated vision of night and the city. The thriller
elements seem almost routine, all in a day's work for Dafoe's
character, as they often are for Schrader. Not among his very best
works, but - carefully placed and hypnotically composed - it's far from
negligible.
