Sleep (excerpt), 1999 16mm, 141 min
'Peter Calvin's "Sleep" is another film keeping me awake at night. It's a frantic, agitated journey through several facets of sleep: insomnia, narcolepsy, nightmares, REM, sleep research, visions, death, and on and on. Calvin creates a stunning, experimental feature, mainly because he accumulated enough striking visuals to match his numerous ideas.'
Indiewire
'Peter Calvin’s stunningly photographed, restless journey into the feverish nightscapes of Los Angeles follows four Beverly/Fairfax area hipsters with assorted sleep disorders: Jonny (Casey Peterson), an insomniac; Cass (Ames Ingham), a sleepwalker; Sam (Bonnie Dickinson), a narcoleptic; and Steve (Tim Innes), a compulsive sleeper. Sometimes analytical, sometimes abstract and always amply laced with ironic humor, the film maneuvers through a netherworld of sound and imagery -- weaving together narrative sequences, interviews with doctors, sleep lab footage, text, and hypnotically beautiful passages -- that all combine to create a fluid, dreamlike landscape, by day or night. Narration reminiscent of that found in an early Peter Greenaway "documentary" adds yet another layer to this meditation on human consciousness. "The ability to weave such disparate elements into a seamless feature is what makes SLEEP satisfying and marks Calvin as a filmmaker to watch." (INDEPENDENT FILM & VIDEO MONTHLY) "The result is both sexy and smart, gripping and atmospheric, transcendent and pop." (NY Underground Film Festival) Peter Calvin will appear for discussion following the screening.'
American Cinematheque, Los Angeles
'The American Cinematheque's "Alternative Screen" presents Peter Calvin's challenging experimental feature "Sleep," which combines documentary and drama in exploring the phenomenon of sleep and its myriad disorders. Calvin's film is witty and elegant looking, but his fragmented approach, bordering on the surreal, is likely to daunt all but the most dedicated admirers of experimental films.'
Los Angeles Times