The Taiwanese deadpan formalist Tsai Ming-liang has frequently rendered psychic maladies as physical conditions; in his latest, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, loneliness, poverty, and displacement are things that befall the body. As ever, Tsai’s perennial muse Lee Kang-sheng bears the brunt: as “Paralyzed Guy,” face forever frozen on the verge of tears, he’s cared for by relatives who silently soap him up and replace his IV; in the film’s other (converging) plotline, Lee is “Homeless Guy,” lost in translation in Kuala Lumpur, beaten following a misunderstanding and taken in by an affectionate construction worker (Norman Bin Atun) who dresses his wounds, helps him urinate, and shares his bed. (The repeated image of different characters lugging around the stained mattress acts as a running scorecard for the film’s emotional network.) In this cement-colored slumland context, Tsai’s long-take style feels responsible, keeping pace with the characters as they dutifully see to each other’s bodies; Sleep Alone is a full pendulum swing from the garish watermelon porn of Tsai’s previous The Wayward Cloud, and an equally unlikely metaphor for human connection.
Opens May 9th at IFC Center
Opens May 9th at IFC Center
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