I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

Taiwan 2006, 115 minutes
Dir. Ming-liang Tsai
In Taiwanese, Malay with English subtitles
Rating: [M] sex scenes
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama

Feat. Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen

Aroview: This achingly serene, Kuala Lumpur-set fable is one of Tsai Ming-liang’s best, starring his alter ego Lee Kang-sheng as a comatose patient lusted after by an immigrant nurse and a coffee shop waitress.

Enveloped in a humid, polluted mist, Taiwan-based Tsai’s first film in his native Malaysia maintains a murky, surrealist tone throughout the development of its typically erotic, if surprisingly romantic love triangle. A return to roots (and form) following 2004’s messy THE WAYWARD CLOUD, Tsai fans, as well as enthusiasts of eccentric Asian minimalism, won’t be disappointed.

NZ International Film Festival 2007