I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (dir. Tsai Ming-liang)

A Malaysian-Taiwanese film shot almost like a series of stills. The camera is static for each scene and the perspective is that of a slightly disengaged observer. The opening shot is of a man in bed, the radio is on and a breeze blows the net curtain. It lasted about two minutes but wasn't in the slightest bit tedious. There are only two shots in the whole film where we have a view from a character's perspective. Once where the camera looks down a gap in the floorboards to a man in his sickbed below. The other is from the viewpoint of the sick man when his 'nurse' attempts to violently attack him. I didn't really follow the plot of the film and because of the way it was shot, and there being so little dialogue, you don't engage with the characters in the way you do with conventional films. It was a different kind of film experience though, which was refreshing. Because the shots are so long, you really see what's in the frame and the scenes are so vivid and memorable, like you have experienced them because you can actually remember details of say how a room was laid out. It had a kind of 'bodily' atmosphere which reminded me of Steve McQueen's 'Hunger'. And also a strong sense of everyday materials. There's this bloody great futon which is lugged around, washed, slept on, carted off somewhere else. It has a strong presence in the film, just as much as the other characters. The thin plastic carrier bags and plastic food bowls, things we use and live with but in the film we are suddenly aware of their weight and density and texture, without the camera doing the sort of close-up/shallow depth of field thing to make it feel intimate.The film was banned in Malaysia. I think homosexuality, poverty, interracial relationships and slightly deviant sex was a portrayal official didn't want associated with their touristic vision of the country.