"This dream of New York, created in the spirit of filmmaker Yasujirô Ozu, is hushed and solitary in its pleasures, and sensitive to the effects of sunlight and moonlight on the city's hard-edged geometries. Made while Hutton was shooting Red Grooms's antic Hippodrome Hardware and living in the basement of the artist's studio." — MoMA
"Using exciting juxtapositions of shade and movement, this silent and surreally poetic films examines subtle changes of light and landscape in New York. New York Near Sleep exploits the basic potential of film for capturing light refractions. Hutton imposes on this film the aesthetics of still photography and uses as a structural device the duration of perception of the subtle reflection of movements and illuminations." — Bill Moritz for Theatre Vanguard, via Canyon Cinema