#TIFF23: “SLEEP” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

“Someone is inside.”

That is what Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) tells his pregnant wife Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) one night from the foot of the bed before immediately falling back asleep. She is visibly shaken by this admission yet finds only the dog after inspecting the apartment. As the days go on, Hyun-su begins sleepwalking and gradually doing more disturbing things. They go to a doctor who tells them it is just a REM sleep disorder, but as paranoia sets in, Soo-jin begins to think there may be more to it.

SLEEP is Writer/Director Jason Yu’s first feature and it is likely going to shake you right through to your bones. He tells this couple’s story in three distinct chapters, each more horrifying and unsettling than the last. I was on edge watching the film unfold, frequently stunned by just how far Yu takes the concept and how he loves to toy with his audience in a way that a cat would toy with a mouse. He is also economic with his storytelling, skipping some moments and extraneous plot beats in order to get to other scenes quicker. That may suggest he leaves some glaring plot holes, except it is quite the opposite. He is efficient and precise, never wasting a frame and always finely in tune with where he wants the audience to be at all times.

And the way he uses the confines and claustrophobia of the couple’s small apartment? Simply brilliant.

Lee is remarkable balancing Hyun-su’s daytime confusion and nighttime nightmares, adjusting his demeanour almost too seamlessly. Jung is even better. Her character lives by the mantra of a wall plaque in the couple’s living room – “Together We Can Overcome Anything” – and does everything she can to stick by her man even when she should be running for the hills. Watching her progress through the film and witnessing the exacerbation in her face and body language is terrific, as is the paranoia that propels the film forward. She is our conduit for all of the on-screen horrors that happen from the quiet to the downright shocking, and some expressed just through her spectacular reactions. Jung makes an excellent film become that much more extraordinary.

Fair warning though, you might not like what happens to certain furry four-legged characters.

SLEEP screens at TIFF ’23:

Friday, September 15 at 11:59 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre

Saturday, September 16 at 9:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto