Sleep

Short review: Watching a film called 'Sleep' late at night seems like a challenging task. Luckily the film was so good that even watching characters drift off at that hour didn't make me too envious. I was really impressed with this film and what it managed to get out of the concept.

I loved that the film never felt safe. There was one scene involving a boiling pot. Now a lot of the time in most movies you wouldn't even consider the implication a possibility. Here though, it felt possible and I saw some hands go to mouths (mine included). This film is even made in such a crafty way that it is able to pull off and make exciting a PowerPoint presentation late in the film. Also the two lead actors turn in great performances that help elevate the film. This was a good one. 8.5/10.

This is the third Korean movie in a row i watch which i appreciated a lot. (COBWEB -2023- and TARGET -2023- the previous ones). And this is good news, i mean, i am a big fan of Korean cinema but i think it regressed a lot during the last years. If it's indeed on the rise, every moviegoer should be pleased.

SLEEP is somewhat mislabelled : This is not a comedy even though it seems at times that it doesn't take itself too seriously and there is -vaguely- a darkly comedic element. This is neither a typical horror movie. I would describe it as a psychological drama horror movie, intense and suspensful. It doesn't drag for a second, on the contrary, it grabs you by the throat from the start and it's a fun/intense ride all the way. A suspension of disbelief is fully required though, this is not the most convincing and realistic movie of the world, but it's a psychological drama horror movie, you shouldn't expect something like that either way.

Better acting performances than the average horror movie, and most important, you can't guess what is exactly happening. It could be this or that but you can't be sure, so i was very curious to see where it goes.

An entertaining and succesful movie of this genre.

A fine debut thriller from Jason Yu. It was shown in Cannes and was pretty well received by critics. Now, after finally seeing it, I'll be joining those who recommend it.

This is a playful exercise in subverting genre expectations. The premise uses horror tropes in interesting ways, without succumbing to overwrought melodrama or clichés. A lot can be said about its expert direction; Yu finely balances humor and horror, and the script mischievously makes you question whether what you're seeing is paranormal or psychological in nature. He is enormously helped by Lee Sun-kyun (a formidable actor at this point) and the always lovely Jang Yu-mi. Their couple has loads of chemistry that is utilized to great effect.

Also, the short-ish runtime of 94 minutes ensures no minute is wasted and no plot point unnecessarily protracted. A hearty recommendation if you like your thrillers twisted and adventurous.

This is a solid little Korean horror film, with a simple plot that's executed well. The acting from the two leads, Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun, is top-notch. Jung particularly is great as the wife.

Where the film falters is in its open-endedness. There's a death early in the film that's seemingly significant for a few minutes, then the characters seemingly forget about it, then it's brought up again later in the film. And later in the film a character disappears then comes back without any real explanation. It left me wondering if perhaps the editor mistakenly edited out the scene showing what occurred between the character going missing and then popping up again. It just was bizarre. But some may consider this inexplicability to be a strength that adds to the spookiness. That leads me to the next point.

The great thing about this film is that, just like the characters, we're unsure of what's really going on here until the end. Is the husband mentally ill? Does he have a sleep disorder? Is he a ghost? Is he possessed? Is he acting? The film does a good job sprinkling in different possibilities throughout the runtime.

Sleep isn't a masterpiece but it's a pretty good debut from Jason Yu with strong directing, interesting writing and great performances from the cast members. Yu's direction and writing does a pretty good job on balancing out the tones of comedy and horror and creating a good sense of tense and terrifying atmospheres surrounding the setting and characters. The main premise is definitely very interesting as I don't see many movies focus on horror elements regarding sleepwalking or so forth. The narrative, while does have some faults and could have explored certain aspects a little more, is solid with good dialogue and executions being satisfying.

All of the performances are really good as each of the cast members does a good job on performing their characters. The soundtrack, production sets and the dialogue is pretty good too. While some depth in the characters could have been explored a bit, I found the characters to be entertaining to observe. There are some moments that were well-executed, especially a scene regarding PowerPoint's that was really entertaining. On the structure, the movie is a slow-burn but not once the movie felt slow or dull.

Overall, I am impressed with Jason Yu's first feature. No doubt there are some flaws but Yu's talent is pretty impressive enough to not overshadow the entire movie. I look forward to see what Jason Yu can offer in the future with his talents.