Review of I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) by Ching T — 20 Nov 2009

This is one of those avant garde type films that requires the audience to really reach for the meaning behind what is unfolding onscreen. Had I not read that this was the latest work from an acclaimed Chinese director who's partly responsible for the 2nd New Wave era of Taiwan and that said director was in attendance of the screening, I would most likely have left within the first 30 minutes.

The movie was obviously shot with just one camera, so the scene changes were quite abrupt. Additionally, the scenes were far too pedantic focusing on all the minutia of normal everyday human behavior, i.

E. bathing, going to the bathroom, etc. I'm not used to this kind of style but I'm really glad to have stuck it through til the end. For most of the movie, none of the characters talk, so the story and emotions that come through are all pure acting skill and brilliant directing.

But this is what the Taiwanese New Wave is all about, depicting the raw version of life as it's happening, thus the one camera perspective. I knew and have seen first hand Kuala Lumpur's large immigrant worker population, and the socialistic problems it creates for that country.

Putting aside the politics, this movie presents a few of those workers with no identity; they're undocumented and thus don't really exist legally. They've left their families, their belongings as well as their identities back home in nearby S.

E. Asian countries. Here in K.L. they strive to survive in the chaotic and seedy underground; there's a Chinese man who's robbed and beaten, an Indian man who lives in an abandoned half constructed high rise building who finds the Chinese man and cares for him, there's another Chinese woman who works for an angry and lonely cafe owner to care for her invalid husband.

All of these characters lives intersect as they strive to find some sort of connection with another human being, thus the title "I Don't Want to Sleep Alone." The director revealed that his central theme for this movie was freedom.

I can see this now, in retrospect. Perhaps in leaving their family and cultural infrastructures, these undocumented workers actually have more freedom than in their native country? Perhaps the invalid husband truly is the most free of all these characters? The final scene completely screams freedom as we see 3 people huddled together on a bed floating towards nowhere.

Yes, lots of symbolism displayed effectively in a movie with very to little dialogue. It's a difficult movie to watch, subject matter, the seedy and poor environment depicted on screen, and for me personally, watching Asians in explicit sexual scenes, but there definitely was a pay off in the end for those that have the diligence and patience.

Hmm, this may have been what its like when Traffaut's or even Fellini's movies first hit audiences.