I Can't Sleep

MOVIE #1,043 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 06.30.23 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝙻𝙰𝙸𝚁𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙽𝙸𝚂 (𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑: [𝚍ə𝚗𝚒];) 𝙳𝙸𝚁𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝙲𝚄𝚂 I continue to find the work of Denis mostly inscrutable. I normally love a meditative slow burn. I think the multitude of perspectives, even as they intertwine, don’t enhance (any of) the narrative(s), and while I certainly get that that (narrative) isn’t really the point, the themes re societal outsiders — which has proven to be a VERY common theme in her work already — has left me feeling a tad cold as well. From my notes:

Were the helicopter cops the same cops that picked him up? Don’t think so. Remember them? The laughing helicopter cops??? On the one hand, I appreciate just like magically thinking of something (laughing helicopter cops) and then look: that’s how your movie begins? Maybe not caring or being overly concerned with why they’re there (why is anything anywhere? In the movies, or otherwise). Or maybe it’s the complete opposite: everyone of these decisions have been poured over and are integral to the narrative(s) and/or thematic elements. What? You don’t get it? What’s wrong with you? (me)

To further that point: I’m able to construct a reason for the cackling helicopter cops and what they might represent, and I legitimately like the absurdism in starting your film with them. I think I’m simply having some “A to B” issues with digesting her work that I don’t typically have with similar, mostly more contemporary “slow burns” (and I’m not sure why).

I can definitely see reaching a point in her filmography where the light clicks on (as I WANT to like these movies more than I have thus far), but I’m just not there yet.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,042 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,044 ⫸

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I Can't Sleep (French: J'ai pas sommeil) is a 1994 French drama film written and directed by Claire Denis. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The film was loosely inspired by the murders committed by Thierry Paulin. It was released on May 18, 1994.