I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone

Tsai Ming-liang, who is rightly seen as a great Taiwanese film maker, shot his latest film in Malaysia – which reminds us that Tsai is actually of Malaysian origins. There are also good reasons for regarding I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone as a Malaysians film, albeit unusual. Not only because it was shot at powerfully chosen locations in Kuala Lumpur, but also because Tsai bases his story on the main theme of ethnic divisions in this society.
The story is vaguely reminiscent of the Good Samaritan. An immigrant from Bangladesh (Rawang) living in awful conditions takes pity on a Chinese man (Hsiao-kang, played by Lee Kang-sheng, Tsai’s regular protagonist) who is beaten up in the street and left. Rawang lovingly nurses Hsiao-kang on a mattress he found in the street. When he is almost healed, Hsiao-kang meets the waitress Chyi. His love for Rawang is put to the test.
A story filled with darkness and perverted lust that despite its almost Dantesque approach is rooted in the topicality of immigration and segregation. Tsai found his most important location (just as other film makers find a protagonist) facing the Padu prison: the foundations of a never-completed skyscraper. After seeing the inky black pool of rotting water on the fourth floor of the ruin, he immediately knew he was going to shoot his film here. (GjZ)

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