Everybody knows that just about the only people with any ambition in this country anymore are the foreigners coming over here looking for streets paved with gold and pastures of plenty.  Director Kemal Horulu has been around making good films for a while, and Never Sleep Alone is one of the best cases I’ve seen in the last 20 years for this country to resurrect FDR’s New Deal protectionist measures.

Even if this film was an absolute piece of junk, it would easily earn AAA just for ambition and guts.  The film opens with actual credits, instead of the usual supers, and has a sensitive MOR score running throughout the picture, rather than the usual blaring, half-assed rock noodling.  Never Sleep Alone also looks like a well-done TV movie.  From a nostalgic point of view, Horulu has captured the steamy sexiness of the “art” films of the 50’s and 60’s.

The plot deals with the very “above ground” theme of how a lot of socially incestuous sex can put strain on a relationship.  This plot device is merely one of the elements that makes Never Sleep Alone feel like a fully realized production worthy of serious consideration.

My only gripe with the film is a cultural one, common to all facets of movie making today. As it is, Canadian and Australians have a hard enough time making films for American audiences because they can’t quite capture the American cadence. The problem becomes exaggerated in recent films like Bachelor Party, a Hindu production which suffers from being too stilted in its execution.  This is a problem due to the cultural gap.  Kemal Horulu has a wonderful feeling for presentation, and could make the perfect adult film if he could hook up with someone like Hal Freeman or Bruce Seven, a director whose expertise is in filming sex.  The result would be a porn film that Gene and Roger would have to pay attention to.

Writing about good movies isn’t much fun because there aren’t any clever, biting things to say.  However, John Leslie is show to good advantage and backs up the notion that he should be taken seriously as an actor.  The sex is real and believable, although lacking in a certain passionate drive that someone like Bruce Seven could deliver.  The very well-developed characters make you care to follow their situations.  On the whole, this is an excellent piece of adult entertainment solo or couple.