About Sleep

A young couple’s life is turned upside down when the husband starts sleepwalking and turning into a dangerous person come nighttime. Afraid that he might hurt their newborn child, the wife tries to take control of the situation. Grabbing hold of the Korean horror comedy genre, Jason Yu gifts us with a riveting closed-setting film where the distress lodged at the very core of parenthood takes on hellish proportions. 

Interview with Jason Yu

"I think everyone has stumbled upon one or two shocking stories about sleepwalking, whether someone jumped off the balcony, drove a car, or even harmed a family member while sleeping. I remember stumbling upon news articles about these incidents and feeling shocked. I began to wonder about the lives of such people. I became curious about their everyday lives and, more importantly, how their loved ones would be impacted. How do they live regular lives despite the looming fear that something terrible might happen while asleep. I was intrigued by the prospect of putting up that obstacle in a story about people who love each other so dearly.

While writing the screenplay, my initial goal was to create a fun genre film, so I didn't have a conscious theme in mind. However, upon completion, I realized some personal elements seeped into the story and that I had created a film about marriage. In the films I watched about married couples, the central conflicts usually derive from each other. Someone either makes an irredeemable mistake, has a massive fight, or simply falls out of love. Because I was at the cusp of married life, I didn't want to portray marriage that way. I wanted to show a couple who really supported each other. And to show how they could overcome together this problem of sleepwalking.

The funny moments derive from the absurdity of the characters' situations and their realistic reactions to them. I don't think there were intentionally comedic scenes or witty dialogue. In that sense, the actors didn't have to shift tones, and the cinematographer didn't have to change the visuals to make certain moments funnier. That being said, there was an extra challenge for our cinematographer to create a frightening mood for the film. Our rule of thumb for cinematography was always to follow the perspective of our protagonist. This was so the audience would always be locked into the character's psychology. So we agreed that the camera should also have the physical limitations of our characters. We refrained from elaborate or stylish shots that would, although enhancing the horror, pull the audience out of the characters."