I'll Sleep When I Am Dead DVD

In I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, Willie (Owen), a former mobster, comes back to town after he learns his younger brother Davey (Rhys Myers) has committed suicide. Upon learning that Davey was brutally raped by mobsters, Willie is determined to seek justice by finding the men who victimized him. While on the search for the mobsters, Willie comes face-to-face with Frank Scott, the local "bad boy" and conflict arises when Frank starts to believe that Willie is back in town to reclaim his status as the town's bad boy. Amazon.com Mike Hodges and Clive Owen, director and star of the stylish 1998 crime drama Croupier, team again in this moody, almost contemplative thriller about a former gangster, Will Graham (Owen), who returns to London after a lengthy self-exile. In a tragic coincidence, Will's brother, Davey (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), has just committed suicide following a rape by a wealthy car dealer (Malcolm McDowell). Convinced there is more to Davey's death than meets the eye, Will--arguing he is nothing like his old, violent, urban self--slowly evolves again into a formidable criminal. Hodges and screenwriter Trevor Preston emphasize tone and spiritual inference over precise character motivation. Not everything that can be known about Will (especially his rocky psychological state and history with a former lover, played by Charlotte Rampling) is expressly stated. But one can feel his stifled nature rising, paradoxically, toward revenge, and his final actions have an existential power and mystery. --Tom Keogh.