‘Light Sleeper’ (R)

Willem Dafoe, bony and toothy as a Central Park carriage horse, brings an exhausted sweetness to the unlikely hero of "Light Sleeper," a 40-year-old drug dealer haphazardly in search of redemption. The compelling actor creeps under the thinning skin of John LeTour, an emotional drifter who comes of age late in this poignant romantic drama from urbanist Paul Schrader. The creator of proto-vigilante Travis Bickle, Schrader is weighing in on what he sees as the waning days of the drug culture. The big city's bright lights illumine a straighter, older generation.

LeTour is another outsider, according to the writer-director, the '90s compatriot of "Taxi Driver's" angry young Bickle and "American Gigolo's" self-absorbed Julian Kay. Thought of as a triptych, the three characters represent not only the excesses of their respective decades, but also the boomer generation's ineffectual attempts to come of age. Admittedly we are not exactly dealing with the cream of the crop here, though LeTour is a decent sort for a drug dealer. And his story was inspired by a line of scripture: "Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (Corinthians 1:15).

When LeTour isn't running drugs for his sexy boss, Ann (Susan Sarandon), he pours his soul into a growing stack of composition books, his literary genius oiled by glass after glass of blanc de blancs. Ann, a funny and glamorous mother figure, runs the business from her apartment, while LeTour and his smart-mouthed colleague, Robert (David Clennon), deliver the goods to Ann's upscale customers. The unconventional family is dissolving, to LeTour's increasing chagrin, as Ann and Robert plan to start a line of herbal cosmetics.

In search of his future, LeTour runs into Marianne (Dana Delany), a former girlfriend who doesn't want to be reminded of their past together. A former addict who has returned to New York to be with her dying mother, Marianne represents what might have been and LeTour is determined to win her back. The consequences are grave for her, but ultimately lead to a second chance for him, if not a deliriously happy ending.

Artistically self-indulgent, if beautifully acted, "Light Sleeper" isn't aimed at audiences with a hunger for conventional entertainment and upbeat endings -- for Schrader this is an improvement. In his last outing, "The Comfort of Strangers," the leading man was murdered in a state of sexual ecstasy. Here, Schrader offsets the screenplay's broodiness with LeTour's affability and Ann's brisk sluttishness. And a caustic humor flavors the whole like arsenic in tea. Maybe just a sip.

"Light Sleeper" is rated R for nudity, sex, drugs, language and violence.