Director/writer: Alex Rivera & David Riker (screenplay) | Rated: PG-13 | Review date: 3-Feb-2010

In the near future overrun by technology and a militarized state of mind, Memo (Luis Fernando Peña) lives on his family’s modest milpa, passing the time listening to radio transmissions from his makeshift scanner. While Memo lives his dreams of the outside world through a pair of headphones, he has no idea that the high-tech outside world is about to hit closer to home in a way that he never imagined. Shortly after his world is shattered, Memo sets out for Tijuana to work in the factories, or sleep dealers.

First of all, the concept of this film is simply brilliant. In this future, everything is connected by a worldwide network where people can plug in to experience just about anything. Our main character runs into a pretty young woman named Luz, played by Leonor Varela. Luz is a “writer,” selling her experiences on the global network. Luz becomes intrigued with Memo and his rustic background as he slowly becomes her muse. Meanwhile, Memo starts to make a living as a remote construction worker, probably in Los Angeles, from a factory in Tijuana. In the backdrop, Rudy (Jacob Vargas), an American military pilot with an interest in Memo begins to track him down.

The acting by the three leads is spot-on and believable. Peña is superb, portraying the modest and naive young man in an overwhelming and bustling techno-driven world with great conviction. The writing was equally impressive. I found the story to be not only impressive as far as science fiction goes, but also surprisingly emotional and meaningful. This is a futuristic film that really seems to reflect the possibilities of our own future existence and really makes one ponder many what if’s. In a world dominated by materialism, technology, and military control, Sleep Dealer causes our own lives to be put into perspective.

The only tragedy I can sum up is that this film lacked a substantial budget needed to achieve many of the visual effects they were going for. The movie is certainly not meant to be an action-packed CGI-driven sci-fi thriller, however there were a few futuristic scenes that could have benefited from higher quality animation to be a bit more believable. Make no mistake though, the few effects and animations in this film are well done given the budget and did not detract from the power of the story. Overall this film is a fresh and welcomed change in the world of cinema. To me Sleep Dealer is far more than just another science fiction flick, but an eye-opening drama that the world could learn something from.

Official site/trailer | DVD at Amazon | IMDb

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