Too Tired to Die is a 1998 independent dark comedy film written and directed by Wonsuk Chin. It stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as Kenji, a young Japanese man living in New York City who is told by Death (Mira Sorvino) that he has twelve hours to live. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.
Plot Kenji, a young Japanese man living aimlessly in New York City, spends much of his time with his friends Fabrizio, an aspiring filmmaker, and Balzac Man. After dreaming about a mysterious woman pursuing a young Arab man, Kenji encounters the same people in real life. He helps the woman and her assistants catch the man, after which they disappear. Kenji later meets Pola, a German woman visiting New York, and spends the evening with her.
After another dream involving the mysterious woman, Kenji wakes up to find her in his apartment. She identifies herself as Death and tells him that, because he helped her earlier, she is giving him twelve hours before returning for him at 9pm. Kenji initially accepts the news with little resistance and tries to find Pola, only to learn that she is leaving for Paris. He briefly considers following her before realizing that he cannot reach Paris before his deadline. He then consults two fortune tellers; one predicts a long life, while another becomes alarmed by what she sees.
Unsure how to spend his remaining hours, Kenji visits Fabrizio but finds himself unable to tell his friend that he is dying. He encounters Anouk, a young Korean woman he has previously noticed outside an art gallery, and impulsively kisses her. Later, Kenji meets the considerably older artist John Sage, who is accompanied by Anouk. After Kenji reveals that he expects to die that evening, Sage invites him to a dinner party. Before leaving, Kenji gives Fabrizio a letter intended for Pola. Shortly afterward, Fabrizio is struck and killed by a car.
Kenji continues wandering through the city and speaks with Lulu, a sex worker, about what someone should do during their final hours. He eventually attends Sage's dinner, where Anouk claims not to remember their earlier kiss. Another guest, Jean, closely resembles Death but is introduced as Anouk's adoptive brother. Sage and Jean become fascinated by Kenji's impending death and begin treating him as the subject of an artistic project. When Kenji asks Sage what he has learned from life, Sage admits that he cannot give him an answer.
Increasingly frustrated, Kenji asks Sage for permission to sleep with Anouk and confronts her about denying their earlier encounter. An argument escalates into a fight, during which Anouk stabs Kenji. He leaves the apartment wounded and discovers that Pola has not yet left New York as he believed. Overwhelmed, Kenji attempts to step into the path of a car but is pulled to safety by Yoichiro, the son of one of his mother's friends, whom Kenji had earlier failed to collect from the airport.
Kenji returns home and deliberately stabs himself with the knife he took from Sage's apartment. Death arrives before the appointed hour and questions why he has injured himself when his death was already approaching. Kenji tells her that he simply wants to die. Death remains beside him as the deadline draws near, and visibly moved, waits with him until his final moments.
Cast The principal cast includes: Takeshi Kaneshiro as Kenji Mira Sorvino as Death / Jean Jeffrey Wright as Balzac Man Michael Imperioli as Fabrizio Geno Lechner as Pola Ben Gazzara as John Sage David Thornton as Lulu Aida Turturro as Fortune Teller 1 and Fortune Teller 2 Kim Hye-soo as Anouk
Production Too Tired to Die began as a screenplay by Wonsuk Chin that was presented at the Fifth Night screenplay-reading series in New York in January 1995. The reading attracted industry interest, and Chin and his producer subsequently secured representation, attached Mira Sorvino to the project and found a production company prepared to provide $300,000 in development financing, although that arrangement later collapsed. Chin continued seeking financing for the film.
Principal photography began in New York on June 9, 1997, under a Screen Actors Guild Low Budget agreement and was scheduled to continue through July 8. The film was produced by Victor Hwang, Donna L. Bascom and Connie Kaiserman for Black Swan Productions, with Jim Denault serving as cinematographer, Merril Stern as editor and Lisa Albin as production designer.
Release The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it screened in the American Spectrum section. The film later opened theatrically in Japan on August 8, 1998, under the title New York Daydream, with Daiei and Amuse handling distribution.
Reception Critical response to Too Tired to Die was mixed. In the 1998 Sundance Film Festival guide, Genevieve Villaflor praised Wonsuk Chin's combination of American independent cinema, Hong Kong film influences and Bergman-style melancholia, describing the result as a satisfying meditation on life and mortality.
Reviewing the film during its later US theatrical release, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Takeshi Kaneshiro's likability, the New York setting and the film's production values, but criticized its meandering narrative and felt that it failed to explore the emotional and philosophical possibilities of its premise. Phil Hall of Film Threat was considerably more negative, criticizing the performances and episodic storyline and describing the film as a "mess".
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