Entering a new “grey zone” of shifting cultures
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in theCICAK.com.
Sept. 20, 2006
Click here to view this article on theCICAK.com.
A still from Tsai Ming-Liang’s I Don’t Want
To Sleep Alone.
Photo taken from the website of the
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
The film is Malaysian-born Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang’s treatise on the lives of foreign migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur, and a reference to his own experience as an immigrant in Taiwan.
The film was an enigma, virtually devoid of dialogue between the main characters, featuring long, loooong still shots with no camera movement whatsoever, and a curious absence of any shots of the KL skyline (besides a few glimpses of the outside of Pudu Jail and some coffee shops downtown); it could really have been filmed anywhere in the world if not for those fleeting references to local landmarks and the smattering of Malay spoken in the beginning of the movie.
Even more intriguing, however, was the question asked by (more…)
