Sleep is the great restorer, one we frazzled moderns eternally need, desire and lack. But for Terako (Sakura Ando), the sleepy-eyed heroine of photographer and director Shingo Wakagi's "Shirakawa Yofune" ("Asleep"), the bedroom is a battleground of the spirit.
She sleeps and sleeps in her skivvies under a silky white futon, waiting for a buzz on her cellphone from her married middle-aged lover, Iwanaga (Arata Iura), who likes her to be at his beck and call. True rest, however, remains elusive, while strange dreams beckon.
Based on Banana Yoshimoto's 1989 novel of the same name, Wakagi's film seems to be a cinematic memoir of one woman's bout with depression — of which over-sleeping is a classic symptom. Terako is not only involved in an illicit affair, but also mourning the suicide of her close friend Shiori (Mitsuki Tanimura), whose unusual occupation was sleeping with strangers — without sex — for pay.
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