LIGHT SLEEPER (1992)

Director Paul Schrader attains a fluid emotionalism in this small, absorbing mood piece. John LeTour (Willem Dafoe) is a quietly tormented 40-year-old ex-cocaine addict who works as a low-level dealer. The job gives him something he can't get elsewhere: It's his way of staying close to the drug world's adrenaline rush. Now, though, the '80s high life is fading. The film's basic outline -- a drug dealer in existential turmoil -- is reminiscent of ''American Gigolo,'' only there's a new confessional spark to Schrader's filmmaking. Dafoe, with his dread-ridden gaze, captures the desperation of someone who has given up drugs only to discover he may not have anything else.