Yee do hung gaan (2002)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Chi-Leung Law

Writers:

Chi-Leung Law (writer)
Tung-Shing Yee (writer)

Release Date:

28 March 2002 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Her Daydreams Become His Nightmare.

Plot:

This is the story of Yan, a young woman haunted by fleeting images of what she believes to be dead people...

Plot Keywords:

Suspicion | Psychologist | Vision | Female Nudity | Cult Favorite

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Leslie Cheung	...	Jim Law
Kar Yan Lam	...	Cheung Yan
Maggie Poon	...	Cheung, Siu Yu
Waise Lee	...	Wilson Chan
Valerie Chow	...	Mrs. Chan
Norman Chu	...	Mr. Chu (as Tsui Siu Keung)
Samuel Lam	...	Professor Fong
So Pik Wong	...	Jim's Assistant (as Olivia Wong)
Tin Leung	...	Hospital Director
Li Wen Sun	...	Yan's Father
Hong Dou Liu	...	Yan's Mother
Hang Shuen So	...	Siu Yu's Mother
Sheu Tong Wong	...	Siu Yu's Father
Pui Yin Lai	...	Mrs. Chiu
Ting Fung Lee	...	Little Chiu

Also Known As:

Inner Senses (Hong Kong: English title)
Yi du kong jian (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Malaysia:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12

Trivia:

Leslie Cheung's final film before his suicide.

Movie Connections:

References The Sixth Sense (1999)

Soundtrack:

Carry On

Haunted by the past

Dr. Jim Law(played by Leslie Cheung) is a psychiatrist who doesn't believe in ghosts. However, when he begins treating his new patient Yan(played by Karena Lam), a young depressed woman who claims to be haunted by ghosts, he starts experiencing similar visions himself.

What helps to keep this movie from becoming formulaic horror fare is the impressive performances by Cheung and Lam. Both are expressive, intense, and put more emotion than you'd think would be necessary into a movie revolving around ghosts. Leslie Cheung in particular surprised me as his role was a demanding one and his portrayal of the character appeared almost effortless. In fact, his performance was good enough to convince me to check out his other movies. The ghosts themselves don't disappoint and they steal any scene they're in. The music playing during these moments is appropriately spooky. Actually, the soundtrack throughout the film was quite good and made me appreciate it more as there are so many films out there which fail to set the tone by making poor choices in music. Loneliness and isolation are the main themes of this movie and they are as well depicted as they are acted out. The subtle moments of foreshadowing are perfectly blended in at unexpected moments and it shows that more thought was put into this than the average horror movie. As with every movie there are a few inconsistencies as well. The last ten minutes of Inner Senses is fast paced and drastically reverts the tone of the film back and forth between drama and horror. As a result, the ending sequence felt a little over-the-top in comparison to the first hour or so. However, I did appreciate the attempt at making the movie so character driven and that was probably its biggest strength.

This isn't a movie that is overridden with clichés like so many others and it bears little resemblance to the many over-hyped Asian horror films that are being remade by the dozen. I was sad to learn that this was Leslie Cheung's last film due to his suicide just one year after this was released. He shows great talent in this movie alone. Don't pass up on this movie just because of its obscurity. There are too few movies these days where psychological illness and the supernatural overlap, and fewer still where it's done in a respectable way. Inner Senses is not directed towards those looking for gore and dead body after dead body. It's for those who don't mind a movie where violence is minimal(almost nonexistent) while the storyline and characters are what drives it.