Reception
The film received very mixed reviews. On the website RottenTomatoes.com it sports a 44% approval rating, certifying it as "rotten". One of the common complaints among its critics is that they felt it moved much too slowly. Despite its detractors, however, Hodges' movie managed to find some formidable defenders. Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying, "...there is a tangible pleasure in following enigmatic characters through the shadows of their lives; deprived for a time of plot, given characters who are not clearly labeled and assigned moral categories, we're allowed to make judgments based on their manner and speech." Writing for the New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "Does the film work? All I know is that it stays in my mind for its ambitiously autumnal essence, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea." According to Owen Gleiberman, "Hodges...still knows how to unspool a mystery with a hypnotic pace of sadistic intrigue." Slant Magazine's Nick Schager awarded the film a full four stars.
Read more about this topic: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (film)
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