There’s an experimental bent to To Sleep So As To Dream that might puzzle viewers, especially for a film made in the 1980s. Not only is the film made in black and white, but the protagonist detectives speak through 1920s silent film intertitles, while they solve a series of puzzles from a Riddler-like kidnapper, diving deep into a case that wouldn’t be out of place in 1950s noir. It’s a strange direction, but as the investigation progresses, and the detectives experience eerily similar encounters, the novel approach unfolds into a touching, spellbinding meditation of art, grief, and reality. It's what makes this film a stunning vision to behold.

It’s so intriguing to make the less aware characters only have intertitles while those more aware and the film that the actress is making have full on dialogue and music cues. The silent film moments can mess with today’s limited attention spans, but it makes the end a much stronger conclusion.