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by Marta Miniszewska (contains spoilers) Sleep is a South Korean feature debut of Jason Yu starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi as the husband (Hyun-su) and expecting wife (Soo-jin) accordingly. It tells the story of a marriage struggling with weird occurrences happening during the night, revolving around the sleepwalking husband with no recognition of his nocturnal activity in the morning. Not only does the film delve into these odd behaviours while trying to find the cause of them happening, but it also shows how can this unwitting derangement of one spouse slowly lead to the madness of another. Although Sleep tackles serious issues such as an unknown illness, imminent threat from a loved one and a struggle to keep the marriage from falling apart, it does so under the coat of dark comedy humour. Jason Yu keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats while weaving between providing them with comedic relief from a suspenseful situation or going into tragedy, fear and even occult themes straight from the horror genre. The film is also clearly divided into a three-act structure, where the tension builds with every episode as illness’ explanations differ, and newly introduced cures don’t solve the issue. Those who got convinced the medicine provided works, could get surprised when the course of the story completely changes shortly after.
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The Beast has been brought by the French writer and director Bertrand Bonello, previously known for Coma (2022), Nocturama (2016) or L'Apollonide (2011). This newest piece makes the journey between different genres and conventions, all the while combining pleasure and lightness with heaviness and an inevitable premonition – a feeling of impending doom. We follow the story of Gabrielle Monier (Léa Seydoux) living in 2044, where her emotional attachment to her previous lives prevents her from living a fairly content, emotionless existence in the A.I. - controlled society. She keeps on trying to purify her DNA to get rid of painful memories and strong sensibilities, but they continue to resurface with the emergence of a mysterious Louis Lewansky (George MacKay) and his various incarnations. Feelings start to flourish between the two, doing so in completely different ways depending on the state of the world the characters meet in. The Beast not only plays with the viewer’s expectations, using generic conventions from period dramas, horror or science-fiction. It is also asking, how important it is to actually acknowledge and nurture emotions and feelings instead of succumbing to the bland existence and detachment, whilst showing how these previous experiences might shape one’s identity. |
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