Schrader has spoken of Light Sleeper as the final panel in a triptych of films about male loners which also includes Taxi Driver and American Gigolo. Featuring one of Schrader's tautest and most effective screenplays, Light Sleeper tells the story of a New York City drug runner grappling with a midlife crisis and framed for a drug-related murder. Schrader's return to the mean streets of Manhattan is notably melancholic, suffused with an aura of regret and longing that adds nuance to all of its characters. Willem Dafoe offers a poignant and powerful rendering of the dealer’s moving struggle to reassemble his life and reconnect with a lost love.