Review of I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006) by Owen C — 24 Aug 2009

Ming-Liant Tsai's films a certainly not for everyone. I imagine many will find his sparse style and slow pace a bit tedious and likely boring. Which can't really be blamed on the individual in a film world dominated and plagued by films of excess. Over edited, fantastical, unecessarily complicated yet deeply simplistic films (I won't point the finger at any films specifically).

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone is a film to be experienced, not as an assault on the senses but rather to get a sense of how these characters are living. As the title suggests, it's primary theme is one of loneliness, distant relationships and stilted emotional connections . Tsai tackles these difficult subjects and emotions in a similar way that Antonioni tacked the same subjects in his best films. In their minimalist style, the slightest deviant from the normally quiet, slow tone feels monumental. Breathing, washing, eating, crying...these characters are just trying to stay alive and in this situation these things are monumentally important.

Tsai manages to highlight the beauty in the seemingly mundane and shifts our focus from expansive enclosures to picking out the smallest of details. As you watch, you get a true sense of how these characters are forced to live their lives of poverty and loneliness.

Sounds pretty bleak, I'll be honest a lot of it is. What makes the whole thing completely worth experiencing is the directors subtle, expressive and immaculately composed images (another thing shared with Antonioni). With Tsai it really is 'the way he tells it' that makes the whole experience quite remarkable.

This is a film that will stay with me for a long time, it appears to pass by without causing too much of a stir but leaves you hanging on its final stunning image. The three central characters, hudled together asleep literally floating peacefully in the dark abyss. Dispite their loneliness, they leave our sight with a quiet moment of togetherness which, in spite of the bleakness, feels quite uplifting.

I'll reiterate that Tsai's films are not for everyone, but if you're willing to meet him half way, have some patience and enjoy gazing at stunning imagery, you'll find his films completely rewarding.