The More I Sleep It, The More I Like It

I have now seen this film for the 3rd time over a 25-year span. It's up in YouTube - just type SIESTA 1987.

This really is an EXCELLENT film. One viewing (unless you're really sophisticated & can "get" everything that's being thrown at you from one-viewing) isn't enough. How could it be? This is a non-linear, surreal, jazz-poem-song visual journey. Anybody who's into David Lynch, Screaming Mimi, Carnival of Souls, those whacked-out European genre films from the 70s such as IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH and L'OCCHIO NEL LABERINTO, even Jess Franco, will feel cozy laying on this surrealistic pillow.

Just a couple observations:

I remember reading back then that Madonna was going to play the lead role in this. Don't know why she didn't, but two things are for sure: Ellen Barkin is SPECTACULAR on this role and even resembles Madonna several times. When she has her hair cut short, she's a dead-ringer for Madonna's sister, Paula. She looks bad-ass beautiful and the restless, erratic, instense movements of her character make brilliant sense considering the "ending" of the film.

I wonder if she also did her own tightrope walk stunt on that outdoor cafe scene.

Director Mary Lambert NAILED the rhythm of this surreal dream as deftly as any of her male counterparts (Lynch, Rubin, etc.).

The all-star, culty casting might get in the way on first viewing. You might be constantly taken out of this crazy "journey": Oh! There's Gabriel. There's Martin. There's Jodie. There's GRACE!
But on repeated viewings you can get over this & welcome their commitment to projects like this & start seeing them for their symbolism (and all the other peripheral signs therein).

I know I'll be seeing this again in the future. Hope it gets a deserving, decent DVD release. Criterion, anyone?