Sleep Tight (2011)
7/10
Good and unsettling Spanish thriller by expert filmmaker Jaume Balaguero
9 June 2012
¨Sleep Tight¨ is both an intense , intriguing and an exciting portrait of subdued madness . ¨Mientras Duermes¨ (the official English title is Sleep tight , but the correct translation is "while you sleep", which to me is far more creepy) lives up to Jaume Balaguero's reputation . This interesting film deals with Cesar (Luis Tosar) , a lone man being incapable of happiness . The residents of the building where Cesar works as a concierge are not aware of the overtime he has been putting in . Apparently, he is at their service both day and night . Before the sun even has a chance to get its morning coffee , César is climbing out of bed , the sympathetic Clara (Marta Etura) still sleeping deeply beside him . When we meet César, he is lying in bed next to the gorgeous girl . He says as much in Sleep's opening voice-over as he stands at a rooftop's edge . He's a sad doorman at an upper crust apartment complex , but , despite he cannot be happy , Cesar goes about his work with dignified class . The adorable Clara is César's polar opposite , she is full of happiness . She is a likable tenant in the apartment building and her gladness is insistent and contagious . But when her boyfriend (Alberto San Juan) arrives in the building the events go wrong .

While Balaguero earlier films focused more on family , social situations , religion and weird creatures , his latest introduces the audience to the worst monster : the human being . This suspenseful movie was produced by the successful Catalan producers Julio and Carlos Fernandez from Fantastic factory ; it displays relentless thriller , intrigue , shocks , hard-edged drama , plot twists , creepy images and some gore when crime takes place . Director Jaume Balagueró (Rec, Rec 2, Fragiles , Darkness , The nameless) uses that uneasy non-knowledge for both horror and introducing brief touches of black humor . ¨Sleep Tight¨ is a motion picture that balances precariously over the dark comedy , ¨Psycho¨' Hitchockian intrigue , Michael Haneke's ¨Funny games¨ invasion genre bins and Michael Powell's ¨Peeping Tom¨ style . The overall result is chilling proof that Balagueró can take us back into an apartment building while delivering a completely different scare . Extraordinary performance by Luis Tosar , he plays a real tour-de-force in one of his best acting of his important career as a solitary and unhappy psychopath and an attractive , enjoyable Marta Etura , both of whom are a happy couple in real life . The picture packs a thrilling and intriguing musical score by Lucas Vidal . Furthermore , a colorful and appropriate cinematography by Pablo Rosso , Balaguero's usual .

'Sleep Tight' demonstrates director Balagueró's versatility , resulting to be a sublime thriller that every genre buff should be excited for . Rating : Good , better than average . The movie will appeal to thriller and suspense fans .
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