Hei yan quan (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writer:

Ming-liang Tsai (writer)

Release Date:

2 December 2006 (Serbia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Forest fires burn in Sumatra; a smoke covers Kuala Lumpur. Grifters beat an immigrant day laborer and leave him on the streets...

Plot Keywords:

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

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Kang-sheng Lee	...	Homeless Guy / Paralysed Guy
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Coffee-shop Waitress
Norman Atun	...	Rawang
Pearlly Chua	...	Coffee-shop Lady Boss
Lee-Lin Liew	...	Coffee-shop Tea Maker
Leonard Tee	...	Light Seller
Su-Yee Toh	...	Lady Boss's Second Son (as Samantha Toh Su-Yee)
Kok-Fai Chiew	...	Lady Boss's Grandson
Rong-Sin Chan	...	Estate Agent
Kok-Choy Loh	...	Financier
Shiva	...	Indian worker
Mohammad Rani Bin Baker	...	Magician
Rusli Bin Abdul Rahim	...	Hooligan
Azman Bin Muhammad Hasan	...	Hooligan
Muhammad Hariry Abdul Jalil	...	Hooligan
Mohammad Abuha Bin Rosli	...	Hooligan

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

Camera and Electrical Department
Liew Seng Tat	....	camera operator: digital video camera

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)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2007) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Strand Releasing (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Axiom Films (2006) (UK) (all media)
• Fortissimo Films (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• 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:

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

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)

Let It Calms You Down, Search For What You Want.

I've attended the Singapore gala premier of Tsai Ming Liang's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone 3 hours ago, and here's the verdict: The movie calms you down, and let it search for you want. That's what the supporting actress Pearlly Chua said to the audience before the movie begins. And indeed, it calms you down.

Tsai's 1st attemp in his country of origin Malaysia has proved to be a success, despite being banned by the government back in Malaysia for portraying the other side of Malaysia, where it so happens that 2007 is a significant year for Malaysia, as it is a year where Malaysia is drawing people around the world to visit Malaysia for its beauty and unique blend of culture. However, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone tells the other side of Malaysia, in terms of the lifestyle of Malaysian Chinese and Bangladeshi workers and the surroundings, makes the government feel that the film is damaging the image of the country.

And why is that so? In the film, were were introduced to a homeless man and a paralyzed man (both played by Lee Kang Sheng, Tsai's muse cum favorite actor), a foreign worker (Norman Atun), a waitress in a neighborhood cafe (Chen Hsiang Chyi) and her lady boss (Pearlly Chua), who was the mother of the paralyzed man. The homeless man was robbed by a group of thugs and was saved by a group of foreign workers. A worker showers care and concern for the homeless man and gave him food and lodge, and a share of the old mattress found at a garbage dump. On the other side, waitress works in a neighborhood cafe and takes care of the paralyzed man. The homeless man met the waitress and share the feelings for each other by following each other around in the neighborhood.

Compared to his previous The Wayward Cloud, a musical that discuss sex, desire and crave for one another in a unusual manner (think of using watermelons to express love), Tsai is going back to his usual style of presentation in I Don't Want. Do not expect any dialogues among the cast, let alone the expression of love for each other using songs and dance. What you get is 115 minutess of peace, without any music to go along with. What you see and hear are sounds from the surroundings in our daily life. Think scrubbing of dirty clothes, the honks in a crowded traffic, songs from radio stations and Indian musicals from a home video shop.

The film greatly explores the cravings and desires every human being wants. The worker isolates himself from his peers and stick with the homeless man, the homeless man follows the waitress and eventually, the lady boss had sex with the homeless man at the backyard. Tsai uses the emotional world of ordinary human beings to explore the desires and cravings thru something that one tend to missed out from the daily life.

For moviegoers who finds 3 minutes of motionless scenes a drag, I Don't Want is definitely not a film for you. At the start of the movie, we see a paralyzed man lying motionlessly on a bed for about 2 minutes. And be prepared that for the next few scenes, it would be focused for an average of 2 minutes per scene.

And so I Don't Want works out under this formula: Malaysian film + Tsai Ming Liang = I Don't Want To Sleep Alone.

Overall, it is peaceful and quiet, without much dialogues to go along with. If you are getting tired of normal noisy flicks, let I Don't Want to Sleep Alone to cleanse your preference of movies.

Go see it. You will feel calm after the show. Malaysian film + Tsai Ming Liang = I Don't Want To Sleep Alone.