Asian American Film: Reviews

"Too Much Sleep" - directed by David Maquiling

03.23 - Posted by Editor

David Maquiling's "Too Much Sleep"

Review by Chris Castillo

3.23.01 -- In one of the early sequences of "Too Much Sleep," a character named Jack walks out of his well-kept house and well-manicured lawn to take a walk. He passes houses very similar to his own. A neighbor greets him and they take a walk together with no one saying anything. After a while, the neighbor says his goodbyes and goes in a different direction.

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     Thus Filipino American director David Maquiling introduces us to the world of Jack Crawford, a night security guard who goes through the motions of his job while seemingly waiting for something exciting to happen. And it does.
     As Jack is on his way home from work one morning, he manages to lose his unregistered handgun to a couple of scam artists -- an older woman and a very pretty lady in whom it seems Jack is enamored. In order to search for his gun, Jack solicits the help of Eddie, a deli owner who proudly declares that he was once a civil servant. Therefore he must be "connected." Together they embark on a hilarious and nightmarish journey beneath the underbelly of this seemingly normal town.
     David Maquiling has crafted a fine-looking and well-executed debut feature. A surprising piece with no pretentiousness, the film manages to balance intricate visuals with carefully constructed dialogue that is not laborious. Definitely one of the better indies to come along in a while. Maquiling deftly portrays the gloominess masked by people seemingly happy to live their lives in this somewhat all-American town while kids play with their toy trucks in gateless tract houses. Cinematographer Robert Mowen gives us a pleasing palette, a soft look of suburbia coupled with pastel colors that underlie the quirky mechanisms of its inhabitants. The film has been compared to "After Hours" by Scorsese, but I see more of a Lynchian connection to "Blue Velvet" -- an all-American college boy on his way to losing his innocence and finding out that things are not what they seem.
     The film's party scene deftly explores this nightmarish world when Jack becomes a captive to the far out ruminations of the guests. He slowly discovers that he's a part of something that he never really noticed. This brings to the forefront the innocence of Jack, as he is not privy to his world because of his isolationist work as a security guard.
     Maquiling has put together a deftly skilled ensemble cast superbly led by Pasquale Gaeta as Eddie. With his rapid-fire delivery and hyper-kinetic movements, he reminds you of Joe Pesci before Pesci became a caricature of himself. Eddie is one of those "know it all" guys that you can't stand, but you can't help but root for him to save the day -- a person who thinks he's bigger than he really is when he's pretty much on the same level as Jack. Nicol Zanzarella, who portrays Kate, the pretty girl on the bus, switches from a confident vamp to a normal person who seems to have lost a chance to get out of town and discover the world.
     In the end, we feel that Jack has survived a journey which has changed his outlook on life. In the process of searching for the gun, he discovers something more important -- himself. This is evident as we see the only genuine smile that comes from him at the end of the film. It is also evident to us that we have witnessed the work of a very promising filmmaker who will be heard of in the future. This film should be seen by Filipino filmmakers and artists, as it proves that we can go beyond our ethnicity and tell stories about everyday life. It also goes to show that Filipino American filmmakers are world class storytellers.

Chris Castillo is a Los Angeles based filmmaker. He is the president of Cinegang, a Filipino American filmmakers group.. He can be reached at catalystfilms@attbi.com.

Comments

Below are comments to this review which have been moved over from the old site. Enjoy! -- Editor
------------------------------------------------------------------------Name: hyperflip

Hey gang! It's funny how we all meet here! Chris is right about Filipin@ or Asian American filmmakers as a whole. We must concentrate on being strong filmmakers and not necessarily play to ethnocentrism. It's a brutal business and it's sad that a quality film like "Debut" has not received a major distributor. I personally want to see more Asian faces in the mainstream media, but we must move beyond our roles as sociologists before being an artist. We all know that ANG LEE was able to make strong films with NON- ASIAN actors and still have the freedom to make even better works (in my opinion) with Asian actors. It's about getting your foot in Hollywood's door. We are coming to a point where we are no longer having to play the role sociologist and we can just be recognized as filmmakers. On a personal note, I still want to see films like this or Ed Radke's "Dream Catcher" to feature at least one character of Asian ancestry. -hyper!
03/27/01 10:08
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Name: Greg

Hey, Cecilia. "Too Tired to Sleep" is indeed playing in San Francisco -- Landmark's Lumiere, 1572 California, San Francisco, CA 94109, 415.352.0810. For a full list of theaters, click on the "screening venues" link at the top right of the page. All the best!
03/23/01 13:10
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Name: Cecilia Gaerlan
E-mail: ceciliagaerlan@yahoo.com

Chris, I'd like to find out more information on Cinegang. I'm a Filipino-American playwright/aspiring screenwriter based in Berkeley, CA. I've recently finished a screenplay on an estranged mother-daughter relationship set during world war 2 in the Philippines (mostly English dialogue). I can be reached through my e-mail or at (510) 843- 8522. Is this film going to come to San Francisco? Thanks! Cecilia
03/23/01 12:34
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Name: Abe pagtama
E-mail: apagtama@aol.com

All I can say is "WATCH OUT WORLD" Here comes David Maquiling, A "GREAT FILMAKER"
03/23/01 11:23

Posted by: Editor on May 13, 2003 03:47 PM

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