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"Together We Can Overcome Anything" reads a decorative burnt wooden board in the efficient and modestly decorated apartment of the newlyweds Hyun-su and Soo-jin. The South Korean version of a "Live, Laugh, Love" portrait hanging on the wall of a couple's townhome somewhere in Maryland, perhaps, though Hyun-su and Soo-jin's family motto has a slightly more menacing bent to it. "What's to be overcome?" one might consider. And what if being together is itself the obstacle to be vanquished? South Korean director Jason Yu's directorial debut, Sleep, gets to the bottom of that fire-branded adage.

Sleep (2023)

Director Jason YuRelease Date September 21, 2023Writers Jason YuCast Kim Nam-woo, Hong Ha-na-im, Oh Yun-su, Park Hyun-jeong, Lee Dong-chan, Kim Jun, Kim Keum-soon, Lee Kyung-jin, Kim Kuk-hee, Lee Sun-kyun, Yoon Kyung-ho, Jung Yu-miCharacter(s) Soo-jin's Co-worker, Drama Actress, Park Chun-gi, Jin-hyeok, Soo-jin's Mother, Hyun-su, Soo-jin, Nurse, Doctor, Min-jung, Shaman, ReceptionistRuntime 95 MinutesGenres Mystery, Thriller,...

Just when you thought your sleep talking and/or walking was bad, the late, great South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite) has a new performance out this week to prove you're no match for his character's troubles. There have been some wonderful films about insomnia released over the decades, but Sleep is a completely unique new addition to the canon. It dabbles in a mish-mash of genres and a handful of relatable themes tied to family dynamics, love sacrifice, and more.

Exhuma, another Korean supernatural-laced thriller, was released not too long ago and evoked a similar kind of supernatural vibe amid modern Asian culture. However, Sleep, written and directed by Jason Yu, is based on an entirely different tale, as a young couple expanding their family with a precious newborn is challenged at every turn once one of them starts acting erratically at a certain time of the day. Brace yourselves,...

How would a movie narrated by a catfish feel? While the animal probably has a good view of what’s going on, would it understand? And when people use it as a stand-in for their conscience—knowing (yet not wanting to accept) the voice responding was still his/her own—would it retain the context of what it had heard? This fish would be an objective third party observer trying to parse the world around it through those few kind souls that pay it the time of day. For Maggie this entails a jumbled experience of those patients who are her roommates, the doctors and nurses roaming the halls of Love of Maria hospital, and any significant others who may visit and or be brought up during those aforementioned “heart-to-hearts.”

First-time feature writer/director Ok-seop Yi gives Maggie an eccentric menagerie with which to learn about humanity and create her...

Cast of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” on the Red Carpet

In Cannes this year, children played significant parts in Competition films by Todd Haynes (“Wonderstruck”), a grownup film about children, in Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” about a child’s best friend, a huge animal, who is to be used by a multinational company as food, and in “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”.

Todd Haynes, Millicent Simmonds, Jaden Michael and Roy Price at the Amazon “Wondesrstruck” Party in Cannes

In Directors’ Fortnight “The Florida Project” by Sean Baker, children played all the key roles, with an especially outstanding performance by the eight year old Brooklynn Prince who plays the lead as a precocious six year old who with her friends live carefree lives in stark contrast to the lives of their struggling parents.

He was 11 years old when Pio Amato from Calabria, Italy played his first role in...