Sleep (2023 film)

Sleep is a 2023 South Korean black comedy horror mystery thriller film written and directed by Jason Yu, in his feature debut. The film stars Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun. It screened in the Critics' Week section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023. It was released in South Korea on 6 September 2023. Lee died on 27 December 2023, making Sleep one of his final film appearances.

Synopsis
Hyeon-soo and Soo-jin are newlyweds. One night, she discovers Hyeon-soo sleepwalking, with a strange behavior that is not like him. Every time night falls, she becomes restless, for fear that her husband will harm their newborn.

Cast

 * Jung Yu-mi as Soo-jin
 * Lee Sun-kyun as Hyeon-soo
 * Kim Gook-hee as Min-jeong

Development
In October 2021, actors Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun confirmed their casting as married couple Soo-jin and Hyeon-soo in a horror film written and directed by Jason Yu, and produced by Lewis Pictures.

Regarding the story, before turning it into a nightmare, Jason Yu was inspired by the moments when he was preparing to marry his girlfriend of seven years: "In writing, my goal was, initially, of course, to make a fun genre film. But, since my subject at the time was marriage, I also wanted to talk about married life." Yu explained: "At first, I was superficially curious about sleepwalking. Then, I wondered what the daily life would look like for a loved one who has to stay by the side of a sleepwalker." He also stated that sleep is a good subject for a horror movie, as "sleep is a state of complete surrender to your environment". Yu also stated that when he first created the character Soo-jin, he had Jung Yu-mi in mind as the perfect actress for the role.

During pre-production, Bong Joon-ho showed appreciation Jason Yu's work. Yu had previously worked as Bong's assistant director during the production of his film Okja (2017). Bong strongly recommended Lee Sun-kyun to play the role of the husband, Hyeon-soo. In an interview after the film's premiere, Yu confessed, "While filming Sleep, I found myself, unconsciously and consciously, trying to imitate the image I had seen in Bong's Okja".

Filming
Principal photography concluded on 12 April 2022.

Release
On 17 April 2023, Sleep was selected to be screened in the Critics' Week section at the 76th Cannes Film Festival where it had its world premiere on 21 May 2023. The screening took place at Espace Miramar, in the presence of Jason Yu, Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun.

Distribution rights to the film were acquired by Lotte Entertainment, who released it in South Korea on 6 September 2023.

Box office
As of 22 December 2023, the film has grossed US$10,671,474 at the local box office and accumulated 1,470,359 admissions.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Elegantly executed, Sleep builds prosperously upon a familiar premise and delivers rousing chills." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Reviewing the film following its Cannes premiere, Marilou Duponchel of Trois couleurs called it "a perfection of genre film where laughter and dread mingle. A profound and subtle reflection on married life". Jean-Baptiste Morain of Les Inrockuptibles called it "a very successful first feature film, somewhere between horror and comedy". Luc Chessel of Libération wrote, "Jason Yu distills a skilful atmosphere of anxiety". Singapore's national newspaper The Straits Times gave the film four stars out of five, and it praised the film for dealing with "mysterious nightly terrors packs in more scares than films twice as long".

Director Bong Joon-ho lauded the film as "the most unique horror film and the smartest debut film I've seen in 10 years".