I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE
Introduced by Tsai Ming-Liang and Lee Kang-Sheng
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
115 minutes. Maylaysia, Taiwan. 2006. Subtitled. Colour. D-Cinema restored version.
Official Selection, Venice International Film Festival 2006
Tsai Ming-Liang returns to his native Malaysia, focusing on the city’s vast migrant population. His ninth feature tells the lives of three intersecting characters.
Homeless man Hsiao Kang (Lee Kang-Sheng) is robbed, beaten and left for dead on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. He is found by Rawang, an immigrant worker from Bangladesh, who lives in a massive dilapidated building. Rawang carries him home, cares for him, and sleeps next to him. Chyi, a coffee shop waitress, who lives in a loft above, is forced by her boss to care for his paralyzed son (also played by Lee Kang-Sheng). Their lives intertwine and a triangle forms. Nearly wordless, with off-screen sound and dialogue, Tsai’s minimalist narrative style, shot amidst a heady fog over the city, creates a claustrophobic and hypnotic atmosphere, teaming with sexual desire.
