I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006)

A day laborer is badly beaten, and a young man nurses him back to health.

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writer:

Ming-liang Tsai

Stars:

Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Norman Atun

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kang-sheng Lee	...	Hsiao-Kang
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Coffee-shop Waitress
Norman Atun	...	Rawang
Pearlly Chua	...	Coffee-Shop Boss
Lee-Lin Liew	...	Coffee-Shop Tea Maker
Leonard Tee	...	Light Seller
Su-Yee Toh	...	Boss's Second Son (as Samantha Toh Su-Yee)
Kok-Fai Chiew	...	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 Hassan	...	Hooligan (as Azman Bin Muhammad Hasan)
Hariry Jalil	...	Hooligan (as Muhammad Hariry Abdul Jalil)

Storyline

Forest fires burn in Sumatra; a smoke covers Kuala Lumpur. Grifters beat an immigrant day laborer and leave him on the streets. Rawang, a young man, finds him, carries him home, cares for him, and sleeps next to him. In a loft above lives a waitress. She sometimes provides care and attention. More violence seems a constant possibility. They find another man abandoned on the street, paralyzed. They carry him. While no one speaks to each other, sounds dominate: coughing, cooking, coupling, opening bags; music and news reports on a radio, the rattle and buzz of a restaurant. It's dark in the city at night. We see down hallways, through doors, down alleys. Who sleeps with whom?

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Plot Keywords:

gay | kuala lumpur malaysia | beaten up | brain dead | water | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Malaysia China Taiwan France Austria

Language:

Min Nan Malay Mandarin Bengali

Release Date:

23 March 2007 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

Filming Locations:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,377, 13 May 2007

Gross USA:

$19,292

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$226,026

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre National du Cinéma et de L'image Animée (CNC), Dama Orchestra Malaysia, EMI Music Taiwan

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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")

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Connections

References Last Images of the Shipwreck (1989)

User Reviews

Proud to differ

I am always a little surprised to see negative reviews of Tsai Ming-Liang films in web communities populated by film enthusiasts. And that's not because I'm about to argue that all film enthusiasts should like Tsai Ming-Liang movies, far from it. Rather, what surprises me is that film enthusiasts -- people motivated enough to have IMDb logins and, further, motivated enough to write reviews -- would be unfamiliar enough with Tsai Ming-Liang and his work, prior to viewing any particular film, that they could end up being surprised by what they get. Like all of Liang's films, this is a very, very, VERY quiet movie. That's the whole point: long takes, minimal dialog, you get out of it what you're prepared to concentrate hard enough on to see the subtlety of. I own all of his films and I watch them again and again -- and that doesn't make me a better person than the other reviewer, either. He's an acquired taste and if you don't like quiet, light-brush-stroke movies you won't like this guy's stuff. But I can't imagine anyone not knowing all of that before they start, and then complaining about it afterward.