It's great to finally see a sci-fi that does global injustice right. Elysium was pretty good, but it doesn't capture the gritty realism the way Sleep Dealer did.This drama is effective because it hits close to the reality between US and Mexico. It takes that godawful situation and built a very interesting story intertwined with a technology that could one day exist. The combination of poverty with technology makes for some awesome cyberpunk.The CG is a bit on the crappy side, but I could overlook it because the movie was story driven. It didn't rely on special effects. The visuals that did work did awesomely. They helped build the tone and didn't function as cheap shortcut.Say adios to high budget garbage.

............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FL This Mexican surprise is a real "SLEEPER" in every sense of the word! 9*, right up front, no ambivalence about this little gem! Lends a totally unexpected new dimension to the phrase "Hook Me Up"! Before I begin enumerating the list of great things DEALER has going for it, a word about the title: How many of you know some Spanish? Mine is on a par with my English: "Sleep Dealer". Weird translation! That would be "Traficante de SUENO"(Singular--BTW, can't render an "enyeh" here, sorry!) "Traficante de SUENOS"(Plural) should be "DREAM Dealer". That even sounds a lot better, doesn't it? I'm clueless as to why the misfire on the title, but that's about DEALER's only misstep! A Tremendous cinematic power courses through this DEALER's veins! during its 85 minutes of on-screen life! First, it's a genre bender. An interesting fusion of not-too-distant-future Sci-Fi, Suspense, Drama, Political Thriller and Still-Third-World-and-Definitely-NOT-Hollywood Foreign/Mexican! The storyline delivers some very convincing/ interesting 3rd world perspectives on globalization and exploitation, but devoid of soapbox style preaching. It simply presents events and lets them speak for themselves, in a "You draw your own conclusions" fashion. One truly surprising element was the AUDIO of DEALER. The quality of the sound and sound mixing was right up there with the very BEST U.S. films. ALL audio elements complimented the film perfectly, adding a very subtle, sophisticated level of highlighting of mood, texture and ambiance enhancement. DEALER also spins language like no other foreign film. Reminiscent of Aldous Huxley's NEW-SPEAK in Brave New World, which influenced A CLOCKWORK ORANGE some 30 plus years later, the dialog is brimming with the likes of COYOTEC; from Coyote, those who organize illegal border-crossings; and LIVE NODE GIRLS, for that ultimate "Hook Me Up" experience! 9*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!!!Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome! [email protected]

Hollywood seems to have no use for a certain point of view, much to its own cultural diminution. Probably the single most repeated objective seen in the US history with Latin-America is its wish to garner the lion's share of the profits from its economic development. This is one of the very few movies to take the side of those being exploited and on that basis alone, I'd be happy to recommend it to any serious movie goer. But there's much more here than just that. There's real skill on display in its execution and conception. This is a low budget film, but its ability to say a great deal anyway, and especially through science fiction, is positively inspirational. Leonor Varela graces the screen like some impossibly dusky cinematic angel. And Luis Fernando Peña is also spot on.This film won some important awards, but, not surprisingly, I never heard of it until I was lucky enough to find it on my Blockbuster shelf. I'd love to see its director, Alex Rivera, continue on in this theme, but having heard about the small-mindedness of Hollywood, I can't help thinking this might be his only film.

Why so bold, you may ask? Wasn't this just another one of those weak independent movies (and in Spanish to boot)? Well, no. I love sci-fi as anyone will tell you, and I especially love it when it really it just that. This is not Hollywood's version of sci-fi at all. Check out recent movies like "I Robot" and "Surrogates" for that stuff. This is more in the vein of "Blade Runner"... and no I'm not the first reviewer to point this out. The movie itself is based on a potential future possibility, even something that is starting to happen as I speak.The main theme of the movie is loss. The water that used to be free: lost. One's privacy in the hands of people we merely speak to: lost. Dignity: lost. The hope for those living beyond the borders of the United States that they may one day live there freely: lost.To me, these things are already happening, in the works, or very likely/possible. That makes this movie true sci-fi. Not that there is the merest glimmer of a robot, or that people are plugging themselves into computers.A rare treat for true sci-fi enthusiasts.