Nomination
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2003:
Best Original Film Song: Nei wui but wui (Would Or Wouldn't
You)
Music: Eason Chan
Lyrics: Lam Jik
Performed by: Eason Chan
Nomination at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2002:
Best Original Film Song
Nomination
at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2002:
Best Original
Film Song
Ann Hui's
well crafted Visible Secret got itself a sequel in
2002 but was instead directed and co-written by Abe Gwong
(co-producer and writer of the first movie). Eason Chan and
Jo Kuk (who was cut out of the first one) returns but this
is more of a new episode rather than a sequel.
Jack
(Eason Chan) and Ching (Jo Kuk) are newlyweds and have just
moved into a new apartment. Everything is great until a fateful
night when Jack gets hit by a car. Luckily he escapes with
an injured leg but after the accident he starts to have strange
visions of an old fashioned dressed woman lying dead on the
sidewalk. His wife has hard time believing in him and his
claims that the house may be haunted but soon she starts to
act strange, almost like she's possessed...
Abe Gwong showed off some good writing in Visible Secret
and as the director and co-writer of the second installment,
he doesn't copy Ann Hui's movie. You shouldn't compare the
two since they feature different story structure as well as
filming techniques but one thing Visible Secret II
fails in doing is avoiding certain genre-clichés. Certain
plot points and setups we've seen in American and even Hong
Kong productions and it was something the first movie managed
to stay away from.
Visible Secret II therefore doesn't come across as
good as the first one but it's still good film on it's own.
Abe Gwong has crafted a less complicated and more straightforward
ghost story and he turns up the scare-factor a few notches
while we watch the plot untangle. The character of Jack believes
his apartment is haunted and that results in some well executed
haunted house type of scenes. They don't feel lifted from
other movies and feels unique for the moment at least. Thanks
to some very good camerawork we too feel almost stuck in Jack's
situation while the camera slowly movis through corridors
and such. I also really liked the static setups used by Abe
and the way he lingered on object or even persons. Hard to
describe but you could almost call it silent directing. When
the story doesn't have tense moments it follows our main characters
slowly through the urban- and country side of Hong Kong and
the camera rarely feels like it's there, which is a good thing.
Visible Secret II takes it's fair share of time to
fully reveal the story, something the first part also did.
It was slower paced though and the viewers who found that
bad, may feel more positive towards the sequels pacing.
They ghost like scenes are at times creepy thanks to the
fact that so many aspects of filmmaking comes together to
create movie magic. Directing, camera work, lightning, editing
and sound design are combined nicely to make something, that
probably didn't seem special when filming, tense and creepy.
The script lets the ghost presence take a bit of a backseat
during the middle section where more facts are revealed about
the characters but the intensity is turned up quite a bit
during the climax of the movie. Going into it, it felt like
Abe was trying to squeeze in way too much information and
reveals in the end but he manages to stand straight and not
overly confuse the audiences. Abe delivers a fairly powerful
ending that scores high on both an emotional level as well
as the fright one. The final twist of Visible Secret II
will probably be debated but to me no rules are laid down
as to what can or can't happen so I didn't have a problem
with the ending.
With Mark Lee (Princess D) as the cinematographer,
Abe further distances himself from the first movie and the
look created by Arthur Wong. It's a new scenario, new characters
and therefore a new look. Inside Jack and Ching's apartment
strong bold colours dominate but it works as a contrast to
the pitch black also present there. That does seem simple
but if you have skill, much isn't needed to create an eerie
feeling to an apparently haunted house. Outside of that setting
the photography is natural or rather uncomplicated, which
may be a conscious choice since the movie is also that.
Eason Chan plays this time a married man but the character
isn't that far off from Peter in Visible Secret. As
with that movie, he gets fired from his job but being a slightly
older man, he has more visions of what he wants to do. Whether
or not he can or will realize them is a different matter.
As written, the character goes through some familiar (read:
cliche like) situations like when his close ones doesn't believe
him and what he's experiencing. It's in those scenes and moments
that Eason tends to overact but he does carry this movie well
enough. I did like some of his acting in the emotional climax
and he shows nice chemistry with Jo Kuk. Certainly not the
most interesting actor working today but it shows he's striving
to gain respect in this profession also (Eason also enjoys
a successful singing career).
Jo Kuk does steal the show from the leading man though. She
was of course the female subway train ghost that was cut out
of the first film and she partially reprises that character
here. After Jack's accident, you could almost touch the tragedy
present in her face but where she shines the most is when
she shows her dead, stone cold face (both in and out of ghost
make up). Extremely chilling and a true homerun in terms of
casting. I think there is still room for development of the
ghost character she plays and I hope she will return to it
an eventual Visible Secret III. . Also in a crucial
supporting part we see Cherrie Ying (from Fulltime Killer).
Visible Secret II is a competent piece of work that
stand well on it's own as the so called sequel. It isn't as
interesting as the first movie but it's still an enjoyable
well above average horror/ghost-story.
The DVD:
I bought this movie as part of the Visible
Secret 1 & 2 Collector's Edition which is packaged
in a round tin. With it you get the same Megastar discs (in
a double cd case sans cover art sadly) that are available
separately, four Visible Secret II postcards, four
film frames from the banned subway scenes in Visible Secret
and a nice creepy 3-D hologram of the female ghost seen in
the movies. The latter is also supposed to be assembled to
create a mini-fan but I let it stay on the tin cover, looks
better on the shelf.
The picture is 1.78:1 anamorphic and looks good with strong
colours and blacks. Hues come off as a little reddish at times
and there was more grain present than I would've liked (the
cemetery scene with all the smoke really looks horrible).
The 5.1 Cantonese Dolby Digital track is very effective.
It's restrained but uses every speaker well to create a soothing
yet still creepy atmosphere throughout. A Cantonese DTS 5.1
track and a Mandarin 5.1 dub is also included.
The English subtitles seemed very accurate and I couldn't
find any errors. Traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles
are also included.
We get a few extras that would've been very much enjoyable
if they had subtitles. Director Abe Gwong and producer Ann
Hui can be heard on the Cantonese language audio commentary,the
usual plot synopsis and cast & crew listings appear (with
small biographies of Abe Gwong, Ann Hui, Eason Chan, Jo Kuk
and Cherrie Ying).
There's 5 short making of-featurettes lasting from
2 minutes and 50 seconds to 4 minutes and 17 seconds. They
all feature interviews with the main players and crew but
are only interesting for a few small behind the scenes shots.
The teaser trailer shows some abandoned footage (see
pictures below). In it there is a 'new' shot of the female
ghost on the subway, something that may be part of the stuff
filmed but cut out of the first Visible Secret. She
is also seen riding a bus which may be only intended for the
teaser but interesting to highlight nonetheless. Finally there
is the theatrical trailer that actually comes with optional
English subtitles, an option rarely seen on Hong Kong dvd's.
(From the Teaser trailer)
And now for the hidden extra! Go to the Making Of
& Trailers-section and from there press left on your remote
to highlight the eyes of the female ghost. Press enter and
you're treated to 16 minutes and 13 seconds of stylish footage
shot around Hong Kong intercut with clips from the Visible
Secret-movies. The footage is set to some wonderful ambient
music and while it doesn't provide anything useful, it's a
nice way to finish off the disc.
reviewed by Kenneth
Brorsson
BACK TO TOP
© 2002 - 2009 So Good... - Hong Kong DVD
Movie Reviews
|
