Original subtitles

All of my dreams...

...and all of my nightmares - come true,

often simultaneously.

When I was 6 years old, my mom moved us to the countryside

to live with her parents.

There was a small river by the house

which led down to a modest little dam,

which would accumulate enough water to create a pond.

A pond which to me as a boy felt like an ocean.

I would climb the trees and fling myself from the branches

into the water, and...

...build this makeshift rafts that I would call ships...

...and create entire cities out of rocks and twigs,

make friends, talk to the animals,

enemies - curse the ones who had bitten or stung me

and at first, there was always a new territory,

someplace I hadn't discovered yet,

but...

...see, there was a limit -

as to how far I could venture and back

before the sun would go down.

I was told I had to return home

before the sun fell asleep.

My mom used to say that...

She loved sleep.

Loved it.

She would sleep most of the day

if I remember,

but...

maybe I don't...

...cause I wasn't around,

I was off,

scurrying about,

trying to see what was just beyond

what I had discovered last, what friends or...

...enemies,

would be lying just beyond that valley,

in that cave that I saw at those mountains in the distance.

So... eventually I decided to break her limitations,

disobeying my curfew.

I didn't care if she got angry,

but...

...the real dismay came from finding that she was right.

We needed to sleep.

We needed it

and the earlier I would start off in the morning to explore,

the earlier I would become exhausted

and the slower I would travel, and...

my weak instincts would force me to head home,

to the comfort of a bed.

I couldn't help myself, I...

...couldn't get through that valley, I...

...couldn't get to that cave in the distance

no matter how hard I seemed to try.

So the places I used to play became sedatingly familiar.

My once mystical sea became a pond again,

my enchanted cities, just...

...twigs and mud.

So I began to pray...

...every night...

...that this burden

that seemed to belong to some other entity

would be...

taken out of me...

...never to need sleep again.

And then,

before I knew it, my mom picked up our lives again

and moved us to a "proper city," as she put it.

One filled with proper people and...

proper noise,

and more proper people...

and my desire to explore my surroundings... reversed.

And so did something else.

Since then, at the age of seven,

I have not slept...

...a single minute of my life.

And

now I am

the ungrateful.

My answered prayer

mocking me.

So...

That's crazy!

Let, there's no way you haven't slept for, like,

since you were seven years old?

I'm...

I'm pretty sure your brain is affected or has trouble

functioning after,

really, even if you'd only be up for 24 hours straight,

you would be losing it.

Come on, if it was that bad,

if it was really so much of a thing,

why wouldn't you have tried everything?

Why wouldn't you have just taken enough sleeping pills

to pass out?

I've tried that.

I just end up basically paralyzed for half a day.

My body stops moving, I end up drooling,

collapsed on the floor, but I am still very conscious,

watching the dust for 10 hours straight.

No! Come on...

...wouldn't you technically die from lack of... um...

Lack of what?

Trust me, I've researched everything

you can imagine about sleep.

Truth is, there's no real satisfactory answer

as to why creatures sleep.

Some animals like dolphins,

transfer energy from one side of there brain to the other.

That's the way one doctor put it, he said that,

"When my body was resting,

that my brain would think of different things."

I was resting different sections during that period,

but I don't...

I don't dream, I don't escape my hard consciousness

the way I did when I was a kid.

There is no such thing as waking up to a

mentally rested and better day, for me.

It's all...

one day.

I do miss dreaming, though.

Very clever.

Huh?

You're very clever, but it's not gonna work.

You're messing with me, I can tell.

Very good at sticking with it.

It's fine.

It's fine if this is how you want to play it.

I don't mind proving it.

I'm spending the night.

We'll see who falls asleep first.

Yeah, I know, it's completely insane.

I know, I've been doing this since what, 1987?

...nothing, I've never had anything like this happen before.

No, no.

Well, I gotta let you go.

Yeah, he just walked in a little bit ago.

Yeah, yeah, I can't wait to tell him.

I know, wait till he hears the news

Yeah, Sunday...

Sunday's good, yeah.

Putt-putt...

That's the only thing I do.

Yeah, I don't do the...

the "golf" golf.

I mean, who does that? I mean...

Okay.

Yeah, love to the missus!

Okay, bye-bye.

...turn this fu...

So...

Crazy news, but good... good news.

I know you claim you don't sleep, but...

today you actually look like it, man. Whatsa matter,

you had a rough night last night or something?

Well, this should put some spring in your step.

We got an offer

for a shoot

tonight!

Tonight?

That's a bit last minute, isn't it?

Oh, yes it is.

That's true, but wait.

Wait for it.

Here's the thing.... You know what the offer is?

You know what it is?

No, I don't know what it is.

I'm assuming it's money.

Maybe just a bag of sea monkeys.

I think you're getting warmer, yes.

What is it?

Come on, what is it?

I'll tell you what it is.

It's name your own price.

What?

This woman, she must come from old money or something.

Have some big company behind her?

Maybe she's from one of those royal families,

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure where she's from actually.

I couldn't quite place her accent.

Or...

her affectation, I should say.

She just had a different way of speaking.

She was almost embarrassed to suggest a price.

She said she would leave that up to you,

that any price was fine.

About the tonight part.

Well...

technically she uh...

she wants you to meet her at 3:00 a.m.

I mean, for name your price,

you should be as chipper as a blue jay at any hour, right?

But I can understand you might be a little...

Well, what...

what kind of shots are we talking about here?

I don't know?

I mean, this woman was really vague.

I guess she just saw some of your editorial work

or something.

She only seems to care that it was you

taking the shots.

When I asked her for details,

she said she'd just leave that up to you.

That they were for personal use,

whatever that means.

So, So I guess she just saw some cool shots in a mag

and she figured I gotta...

"I must be shot by this photographer."

She's got the money so, ya know.

Maybe she's just into the whole wigged out at 3:00 a.m

look, or motif, or what not, ya know.

Or maybe she knows something about the moonlight at 3:00 a.m

that I don't.

What, it's outdoors?

Well, I... I don't know,

I assume so...

maybe a backyard or something.

When I asked her what kind of lighting we needed to book,

she said we didn't need to book any,

just you and the camera.

I mean, I told her that even natural lighting is

usually staged to look natural

and she just kept saying "moonlight..."

"moooonlight..."

just like that too.

So clearly, this woman dances to the beat

of her own drum. Clearly.

Anyway, here's the address.

Her name is Aurora.

Her assistant will meet you there.

Who apparently has no name

or she doesn't seem to think it was important.

I would tell you to be careful, but...

I already charged her a deposit.

One hundred thousand dollars.

And it went straight through!

She didn't even hesitate when I mentioned it! Boom!

Something just told me she was loaded.

One hundred thousand dollars!

So yeah, I was thinking, too, "this sounds really shady...

...could this be a setup to take his gear?"

Clearly, I think you're... uh...

I mean, that's why I set the deposit price so high.

I mean, they'd have to be the dumbest criminals ever to...

...you know...

So clearly, I think you're uh...

...you're good.

So...

What shall we charge?

This...

...address...

...across from the park where I...

...never mind.

Hello?

Go to the place where you walk.

She is waiting there for you.

Let.

Take

my

picture.

Please.

You should

stay

still.

How?

I

guess you

know this,

but I

come here

a lot.

Yes.

You do.

At this exact time.

How long have you...

I mean...

What's...

Let.

What do you want?

What

do you

want?

I don't think I need to answer that.

You want

sleep.

What?

Don't you?

I can give you

true rest.

The kind that makes you feel alive again.

The kind that fills your entire being

with what you now only think of

as your deepest consciousness.

No more screens to filter through.

No more looking from the outside.

You will fully

be.

Your planet is

changing.

Oh, well.

My planet?

Beyond what your species is capable of processing

or able to understand.

Sleep as your planet has known it up until now

will become impossible.

Others will be unable to sleep,

draining their consciousness,

but for you,

it is already obsolete.

You have asked for a different kind of rest

and I can offer it.

True rest as you have never known it before

and you will be...

Reborn.

Come...

I don't think I'm the right guy for your uh... shoot.

I'll have Markus refund your money.

Let, don't go.

Oh no, that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna go.

Let, you don't understand.

You're right.

I don't and I don't think I need to.

Thank you.

Let!

I lost my phone.

I'm sorry, I guess I figured that you would be up.

I couldn't sleep, either.

I'm just feeling very, uh...

very disoriented.

I remember where you live, but for some reason,

I couldn't focus on where I was.

Guh! Sounds stupid, um...

I've been wandering around your block for...

Um, you have a very interesting block.

A lot night owls.

I guess it's appropriate for you.

Am I bothering you?

No.

Sorry.

Just...

No, come in.

What do you do

when you can't sleep?

What do you do all night?

I go through different phases, I guess.

Sometimes I just

lie down and think.

I hate thinking.

I think.

Maybe not. I don't...

What is thinking, anyway?

Yeah...

...and what's not thinking, I guess.

Been going on a lot of walks

at night

in nature.

Can I come with you sometime?

Can I see your pictures?

Are they from a job?

Who?

I'm not...

...sure.

Celeste?

Try to lie down?

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I can't feel.

Will you kiss me?

This moon thing, huh?

What the fuck.

Can't sleep it all obviously. Nobody can.

It's what it seems like, anyway.

You don't watch the news though, right?

Right?

People need sleep, right?

I took ten sleeping pills last night, ten!

You know what happened?

I just ended up eating everything in the fridge.

It's like they had no effect on me at all.

I don't know which way is up or down anymore.

I seem to still have energy, but I can't think too well.

A whole other moon.

Some cult guy was saying it was always there.

It was just hidden from view behind the other moon.

But we went to the moon, right?

And we have satellites and stuff, right?

I mean, how could that be possible?

We would have seen it.

Unless all that was a hoax.

Maybe we never really went to the...

And the scientist on TV was saying that

it came through a wormhole.

It just went in one end of the universe

and popped out another.

That makes more sense, right?

I mean, black holes and stuff, those are real, right?

But a wormhole...

that's different, right?

I don't know, man.

I just need some

fucking sleep.

Phew!

So, how'd the shoot go last night?

Couldn't have been that bad, huh?

Marcy hasn't been out of the room all day.

I've gotta field my own calls.

How do people read this? What does this even...

Yeah? LMQ, this is Markus, may I help you?

Hello?

Let.

Come

back.

I can

help.

Same

hour.

Markus.

Markus.

Maybe you should...

Lie down.

Markus?

Celeste?

What are you doing, you okay?

What are you doing out here?

I thought you were gonna try to rest.

I don't know.

I keep forgetting.

Oh, I went to find you.

Where did you go?

To meet Markus, you don't remember?

We talked before I left.

You don't remember that?

Oh!

Oh!

Oh, yeah, I just...

I remember.

I remember everything now.

I was wandering around

and I saw a woman crash her car...

just...

And I saw

a man.

He walked up to a cop

and...

and he asked the cop

to kill him

right there.

He did it. He pulled out his gun,

shot him in the head, and put it back like it was nothing.

Come on.

Let's go inside.

When was the last time you ate something?

I...

I can't remember.

Sometimes it's strangely comforting to feel small.

But if I get any smaller,

I think I might I disappear.

Celeste.

I'm gonna be right back, okay?

Don't go anywhere.

Okay?

Can you stay right here for me?

Can you remember?

I have to...

see something.

Try to remember, okay?

I'll be right back.

Don't go anywhere.

Your world's consciousness is being arrogated.

An interdimensional being is using the energy

humans put toward identity

and purpose as a means of feeding

its own lucid dream.

Consuming their life energy

as a source for its own desolate utopia

ending the cycle that feeds life as your planet knows it

and replacing it with its singularity,

a void.

But you, Let, you have spent most of your life without sleep

and are therefore never fully conscious

and never fully unconscious.

Immune to the pull of the being's lucid dream

where you currently stand.

You are conscious enough to see what is happening,

but not awake enough to fight back.

If you choose to accept true rest,

you will reemerge with the ability

to affect and control your surroundings.

You will be truly alive for the first time.

Your purpose and direction will be illuminated to you

and from within you, and you would be able to seek out

the infectious being and end his iniquitous reign.

But, there is a price.

With your new sense of vision will come enemies

and though you will have the clarity of consciousness

to see them, they will become aware of you, as well.

The being and its extensions, his left and right hand,

they see what he sees and they will be able to spot you

as a threat

and Let, their sole purpose

is to eliminate...

threats.

I don't understand.

How?

How am I supposed to... find...

There are no more questions that I can answer.

I'm here

because you wished me to be.

If you wish to know more...

There is one more price.

Open the door. Go inside.

Do you have a weapon?

Bring me the weapon you'd use

if someone broke into your apartment.

Hide.

Drive North.

Point to your car.

Give me your keys.

Where are we going?

To find who's doing this to you.

Stand up.

Celeste, let's go. Come on.

Move over here.

Hands

bring food to the mouth.

Celeste.

Let.

Trust me.

No, please don't leave me, Let.

Do not leave me.

Trust me, please.

Let me come with you. Let me come with you.

Next time you wake up

you're gonna be fully conscious.

You're gonna be yourself again.

Let me come with you.

Trust me.

Have you ever had a dream that came true?

You think I'm using people

like cogs in a wheel,

but you're not stopping to think

that without the wheel,

the cogs have...

no purpose.

But you...

you think that you've found purpose.

The only purpose you have found

is in ending mine.

What kind of purpose is that?

Were you that empty before?

At one time, you weren't.

At one time,

you wanted to explore

and I,

I was your helper,

but you became...

impatient.

You turned on me

and wished me away.

Bitter...

Towards your own fuel,

I was only carrying you

where you wanted to go.

But now...

Now it's too late.

Now you have become the anti-wish.

You have become

what is limiting us.

You're trying to kill everyone's dream,

not just mine.

Do you want us all to be loose cogs?

What would happen to you

if I was gone

back to your limbo?

You cannot find true purpose...

in taking it away.

You're right.

I cannot take your purpose from you.

If it wishes...

Your sacrifice

is its own reward.

...it can take itself.

Where are we going next?

Never mind.

You're not invited anymore.

There is one more price.

If you choose to become fully conscious,

you

will never be able to regenerate again

and the next time you rest

will be

eternal.