Inner Senses

Inner Senses

Film poster
Traditional 異度空間
Simplified 异度空间
Mandarin Yì Dù Kōng Jiān
Cantonese Ji6 Dou6 Hung1 Gaan1
Directed by Law Chi-leung
Produced by Derek Yee
Written by Derek Yee
Law Chi-leung
Yeung Sin-ling
Starring Leslie Cheung
Karena Lam
Maggie Poon
Waise Lee
Valerie Chow
Norman Chu
Samuel Lam
Music by Peter Kam
Cinematography Keung Kwok-man
Edited by Kwong Chi-leung
Production
company
Filmko Pictures
Distributed by Golden Harvest
Clyde Films Inc.
Release dates
  • 28 March 2002 (2002-03-28)
Running time
100 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Cantonese
Box office HK$3,246,314.00[1]

Inner Senses is a 2002 Hong Kong psychological horror film directed by Law Chi-leung and starring Leslie Cheung and Karena Lam. The film explores themes on hallucination, clinical depression, psychological trauma and suicide. It was also the last film Cheung acted in before he committed suicide on 1 April 2003.

Summary

Psychiatrist Dr. Jim Law tries to treat his patient, Cheung Yan, a woman who believes that she sees ghosts. Law does not believe in the supernatural and thinks that she is repressing her past. Law reads Yan's diaries to better understand her psyche and learns that her parents are divorced and do not care for her. Yan's condition improves gradually and they develop a romantic relationship at the same time.

However, Law feels that he cannot become too close to Yan because she is his patient and tries to convey the message to her indirectly. Yan understands his words and feels hurt, as she thinks that he is dumping her in the same way as her ex-boyfriend did. She starts having hallucinations again and sees the spirits of her landlord's deceased wife and son, after which she attempts suicide by overdosing on antidepressants and slitting her wrist, but survives. Law travels to Yan's apartment later and hears strange noises in the bathroom and thinks that her neighbour upstairs is responsible. Once, Law sees a female ghost while looking out of his window, and sees her again on another two occasions while driving and swimming. He starts taking antidepressants as well and tries to electrocute himself, but is rescued in time and recovers.

Law eventually helps Yan recover from her mental illness by reuniting her with her parents. Following that, he starts dating Yan as she is no longer his patient. While in a restaurant one day, Law is attacked by a woman, whom he remembers to be the mother of the ghost he saw. He starts having nightmares and begins sleepwalking, behaving erratically and reacting violently when Yan and his colleagues ask him. The ghost that Law sees is actually Siu-yu, his ex-girlfriend in high school, who committed suicide after Law broke up with her. Law has visions of Siu-yu following him wherever he goes and flees in horror until he finally reaches the top of a building. He is confronted by Siu-yu's ghost, who wants to force him to jump off. Law shows remorse for causing Siu-yu's death and the ghost disappears. After that, he sees Yan walking towards him and embraces her, and the film ends with both of them sitting together on the top of the building.

Cast

Awards & nomination

Awards and nominations
Ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
22nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director Law Chi-leung Nominated
Best Actor Leslie Cheung Nominated
Best Actress Karena Lam Nominated
Best Sound Design Kinson Tsang Nominated
Outstanding Young Director Award Law Chi-leung Won
39th Golden Horse Awards Best Actor Leslie Cheung Nominated
9th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Film of Merit Inner Senses Nominated
2nd Ming Pao Awards Most Outstanding Film Actor Leslie Cheung Won

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.