Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Sleeper Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2016

Note: This film is also available as part of the set Woody Allen: Six Films 1971-1978.

The six films included in a new set from Arrow comprise some of Woody Allen’s best known and best loved offerings, but they also provide a nice window into Allen’s evolution from a schtick and gag laden auteur to a filmmaker with something obviously a bit deeper on his mind than “only” going for the gusto in terms of laughs. Tracing the kind of frankly odd route from Bananas to Interiors may not provide much grist for a mill interested in narrative through lines, but it at least provides ample evidence that Allen, no matter how he’s seen currently within the context of his external “baggage,” has always been a relentlessly unique force in the contemporary film world. Allen’s filmmaking craft also increases exponentially over the half dozen films in this set, and one of the more interesting things to pay attention to is how his directorial chops noticeably improved in terms of even relatively simple things like framings and how to set up a shot for maximum impact. But Allen’s writing went through a similar metamorphosis, slowly but surely turning away from, or at least relying less upon, sight gags and just downright goofiness in favor of more intellectually prone humor. Allen continues to be a divisive figure, not just in the annals of cinema but (not to state the obvious) for some of the personal choices he’s made through the years (not to mention allegations that have been leveled against him), but these six films, most done before any major “brouhahas” had started to append “meta” analyses to his offerings, are an often stunning example of a brilliant comedic mind who also began to nurture his more dramatic tendencies.

Years ago when I was a kid I remember reading a science fiction short story about a guy who has himself cryogenically frozen when he contracts a terminal disease, in the hopes that at some future time a cure will be found. Indeed, a cure is found centuries later, he’s “thawed out”, and sent on his way, where he finds himself completely unable to deal with how much the world has changed in the intervening years. Of course he chooses to be put back in cold storage until there’s a cure for that, in a kind of riff on the sort of twists that used to inform The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series . That story was played for pathos and drama, but Woody Allen’s hilarious and ebullient Sleeper takes that central premise of resurrecting a cryogenically frozen man and plays it for laughs. Sleeper is arguably Allen’s most consistently funny film, and Allen finds that humor both in brilliantly conceived sight gags as well as his typically urbane if twitchy intellectual verbosity.

In this case, a man named Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) was frozen way back in 1973 after complications arose from a routine surgical procedure. The world has gone through some sort of apocalyptic maelstrom in the intervening centuries, and “now,” in 2173, there’s a kind of 1984-esque Big Brother government in charge, and a group of insurgent scientists out to find someone who can penetrate the government’s lair to prevent a top secret plan for domination known as the Aries Project. It turns out Miles is the perfect candidate, for as an “archival” human from a former time, he isn’t “catalogued” by the government and therefore is a blank slate of sorts who may be able to permeate the Project without being discovered.

Part of the humor in the early going in Sleeper comes courtesy of the fact that, unlike the guy in that short story I read years ago, Miles wasn’t aware he had been cryogenically frozen, and so he’s probably even more discombobulated by his new surroundings than the hapless hero of the short story. He’s also not quite in control of his motor skills, and Allen parlays this all into a fantastic series of sight gags as Miles attempts to remember how to do supposedly simple things like walking. While Allen's penchant for sight gags is never completely abandoned, the film starts to tip over into "smarter" territory once Miles becomes aware of the new society in which he finds himself, especially after the scientists attempting to utilize him for their purposes end up getting caught by the Big Brother government forces, leaving Miles to fend for himself as a fugitive.

That then leads to what is in essence a series of vignettes as Miles attempts to figure out what exactly the Aries Project is, while he manages to finagle a job as a “robot” with a somewhat narcissistic but obedient member of society named Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton). There’s a bit of a seesaw aspect at play with Miles, who has to reveal his “real” self to Luna, attempting to get her to realize what’s going on around her with regard to the political dynamics of the day, and Luna wanting to steadfastly remain in the “ignorance is bliss” camp. The two actually change places after Miles is successfully brainwashed by the government forces. Through it all, Allen parades out a series of hilarious bits that often involve outrageous sight gags, but there’s also some typically astute observational humor that Allen proffers in a series of polemical debates between the two focal characters.

Sleeper provides a glut of laugh out loud moments, and, somewhat like Love and Death would do a couple of years later, within a surprisingly philosophical context. Orwell’s 1984 famously posited that “Big Brother is watching you,” but considering the abundant comic dividends Sleeper serves up, even committed anti- government forces might understand why Big Brother might want to watch Miles.

Sleeper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sleeper is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Unlike several of the other films in the new Arrow Woody Allen set, Sleeper has had an American Blu-ray release, and I've attempted to replicate several of the screenshots from that review so that those interested can toggle between full screen windows to contrast and compare. Unlike Love and Death, whose Arrow release showed a slight but noticeable difference in brightness from its American counterpart, there's really no discernable difference in any major category we regularly address in our reviews between the British and American versions. The palette, grain structure, and general sharpness and clarity are very similar, if not outright identical. As Michael Reuben noted in his review of the American release, the elements are in tip top condition (though I noted a few stray signs of age related wear and tear), and detail levels are generally quite convincing. I was bit more troubled by the gritty grain structure than Michael evidently was, and therefore my personal score would probably be slightly downgraded to around a 3.75.

Sleeper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sleeper features an LPCM 2.0 mono track which, like its video component, is more or less identical to the American release's DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track. Allen's sound design is fairly ambitious in this film, with some goofy sound effects and a nice jazz inflected score. Fidelity is fine, and if the soundscape is obviously on the narrow side, prioritization is fine and there is no damage of any kind to report.

Sleeper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:21)

Sleeper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sleeper remains one of my personal favorites in the Allen oeuvre, in part because it's such a winning marriage of the silly and the smart. Graced with a fun production design and filled with some great performances and even greater sight gags, Sleeper may bring to mind a famous phrase from "another" science fiction classic: resistance is futile. Technical merits are strong, and Sleeper comes Highly recommended.