Winner for Best Director – Short Film from Cinemalaya, “As He Sleeps” is a very intriguing, bordering on blasphemous one could say, short that deals with the concept of the ‘sanctity of marriage” in a rather unusual way.
In a visual style that reminds intently of Lino Brocka, the movie begins with a woman smoking in an apartment, while a voice condemning adultery is heard. The woman is named Christina, is in her 30s, and it turns out she has to take care of her paralyzed husband, Hector. As she cleans him with a sponge in his bed, a photo of them being happy in the past shows how their relationship was before he became bed-ridden. A man who has come to buy their TV arrives a bit later, taking the appliance with him. She has just also got rid of their goldfish, throwing them in the sink, perhaps in a thought of what she could do to her husband, but probably in an effort to make some additional income and cut down expenses. The sound Hector makes when he needs something comes once more, this time as he is peeing himself. A bit later, Christina goes to the supermarket, where she attracts the look of another customer, who is not exactly subtle in his ‘flirting'. Feeling that she has no alternative, Christina returns to her home and ‘rides' her husband next.
Sheron Dayoc directs a very interesting short, which definitely reminds of Koji Wakamatsu's “Caterpillar”, although in a much tamer fashion. The comments here are as pointed as they are realistic, with the most evident one being that even the wives of handicapped husbands have sexual needs and they are in need of release every now and then. Although this aspect could easily be mocking or even comedic, Dayoc keeps it in dramatic fashion, by adding the concept of religion in the narrative, showcasing that its rules do not allow Christina to do anything, in a country, which, additionally, divorce is illegal.
Considering how the short begins, though, the accusation here is definitely towards religion, who has essentially made a slave out of Christina, as much as towards a state that seems to provide no help for such health cases. At the same time, and although the woman's actions are justified through human nature, one can only wonder what could happen if she becomes pregnant, in a country that does not allow abortion either.
Apart from the aforementioned, Dayoc also induces the short with a sense of irony, with the initial religious talk and the whole concept of “in sickness and in health”, the sound of the bed that occurs not due to sex, but as Christina is washing her husband, and the overall way he builds the sensualism here only to mock it, moving in the same path.
Sue Prado as Christina is quite good in the role, highlighting her tiredness, surrender, arousal and shame in equally convincing fashion.
Dexter Dela Peña's cinematography captures the events in the house in a way that resembles a documentary, and the ones outside in more genre fashion, with the play with the shadows working particularly well, as is the case in the sex scene. Chuck Gutierrez's editing results in a relatively fast tempo that suits the overall aesthetics of the movie, with some of the cuts, as the one towards the sex scene, being rather well done.
“As He Sleeps” is an excellent short, which manages to make its very rarely mentioned points in subtle but also eloquent fashion.
