Hei yan quan (2006)

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writer:

Ming-liang Tsai (writer)

Release Date:

2 December 2006 (Serbia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Water | Kuala Lumpur | Mattress | Homeless Man | Very Little Dialogue

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Norman Atun	...	Rawang
Norman Bin Atun	...	Rawang
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Chyi
Pearlly Chua	...	Lady Boss
Kang-sheng Lee	...	Hsiao-kang

Directed by
Ming-liang Tsai

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ming-liang Tsai		writer

Produced by
Wouter Barendrecht	....	executive producer
Simon Field	....	executive producer
Keith Griffiths	....	executive producer
Bruno Pésery	....	producer
Vincent Wang	....	producer
Michael J. Werner	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Pen-jung Liao
Ming-liang Tsai

Film Editing by
Sheng-Chang Chen

Production Design by
Siong-king Gan
Tian Jue Lee

Costume Design by
Huey Mei Sun

Sound Department
Shiang-Chu Tang	....	sound
Du-Che Tu	....	sound

Production Companies

• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Dama Orchestra Malaysia
• EMI Music Taiwan
• Government Information Office of the Republic of China
• Homegreen Films
• New Crowned Hope
• Soudaine Compagnie

Distributors

• 01 Distribuzione (2006) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Axiom Films (2006) (UK) (all media)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Fortissimo Films (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• Strand Releasing (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Video Film Express (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Dark Circle (International: English title) (working title)
Hei yan cyuan (Taiwan)
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (International: English title)

Runtime:

115 min | Canada:115 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Malaysia | China | Taiwan | France | Austria

Language:

Taiwanese | Malay | Mandarin | Bengali

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Sweden:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Company:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

Trivia:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2007 (#10, tied with "Ne touchez pas à la hache" and "Sang sattawat")

Movie Connections:

References Últimas imágenes del naufragio (1989)

Slow, minimalist &hypnotic

Director Tsai Ming-Liang sets this film in his native Kuala Lumpur. Hsaio-Kang (Kang-sheng Lee) is beaten up by street hustlers and is carried back to a abandoned half-completed building, home to the homeless and downtrodden, by a group of Bangladeshi men. There he is meticulously, even lovingly, brought back to health by Rawang (Norman Bin Atun), where they share a salvaged, stained flea-ridden mattress.

Once his strength comes back, Hsaio-Kang ventures out and meets waitress Chyi (Shiang-chyi Chen) and her older boss (Pearlly Chua). Chyi is made to care for a bed-ridden paralyzed man.

One of the interesting aspects of this film is the depiction of a poor district of Kuala Lumpur: multilingual (Malay, Bangladeshi, Mandarin), hopelessly derelict, dirty, and run-down. The characters silently struggle to survive day-to-day, and strive to make human connections with one another amid their squalor.

The central abandoned half-finished concrete office building, with its exposed rebar and flooded basement, is a perfect set.

A haze descends on the city, a result of fires in far-off Indonesia, which sets the stage for a tragi-comic attempt between Chyi and Hsaio-Kang to make love while wearing improvised surgical masks and through hacking coughs.

This minimalist film moves very slowly, lingering on each shot for sometimes one or two minutes. Simple acts such as washing a paralyzed man's face, or a cigarette enjoyed next to the flooded basement's pool, become almost hypnotic.

All that said, when I walked out of the theatre, I was sure I did not like this film, due to the slow pace and almost total lack of spoken dialog. But the next day I found myself thinking of the film all day long, its characters and silent relationships. Maybe in that sense, this film accomplished its goal.