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Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1
Languages: Cantonese and Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified).
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-Enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: Varies. Can be picked up for as cheaply as $40HK (£2.82 approx) $9.99US at YesAsia
Extras:
Making-Of (11m 20s), Original Theatrical Trailer, Trailers for 'July Rhapsody'
& 'Tiramisu,' Cast and Crew Biographies.
Director:
Lo Chi Leung
Cast:
Jim Law: Leslie Cheung
Yan Cheung: Karena Lam
Cheung Siu Yu: Maggie Poon
Wilson Chan: Lee Chi-Hung
Mrs Chan: Valerie Chow
I'd been wanting to see this film for a long time,
but had just never gotten around tO it until a few weeks before star
Leslie Cheung sadly took his own life. Given some comments about a scene in this movie which
eerily points towards 'life imitating art,' it was with some trepidation that I placed the disc
into my player. It's sad that the first time I saw it was to be in the shadow of such a tragic event.
Leslie Cheung plays an unorthodox psychiatrist who, on the urging of a close friend, takes on a new patient,
an attractive, disturbed young girl (Karena Lam) who claims to see dead people. So far, so
Sixth Sense
right? Well, in broad strokes the movies do bear a similarity but Inner Senses does take things in a
different direction and also doesn't rely on a gimmicky last minute twist. To flesh out the story
somewhat I'll add that some way through the patient's treatment the doctor starts to see things he can't
explain, a ghostly figure haunting him, and the roles of believer and sceptic start to become reversed.
OK, I'll get this out of the way first, Inner Senses is not the best movie in the World, but it is a damn
fine example of why Leslie Cheung's talent will be so sorely missed! The best element of this movie is the
acting, not just from Cheung, but from all involved. Cheung's performance is the standout though,
one particultar scene from the latter part of the movie sees him go between fear, remorse and anger with
total conviction, making it seem more like the character than 'good acting.' That's not to say that the acting
is the only good thing about this movie... I enjoyed it as a whole, I was expecting another cheap HK rip off of
the Sixth Sense and I got something more.
The story was pretty interesting, in the twists and turns it took, nothing too suprising but nothing too obvious
either. It also, for the most part, leaves the events of the movie open to the viewer's interpretation, of
what is real and what is imagined. The scare moments are pretty disturbing and effective too, especially when
the pace ramps up in the latter half of the movie. Another bonus is that, unlike other recent HK Horror output,
the film-makers have not felt the need to lumber the movie with ill-fitting comedy moments, but, that's not
to say it's po-faced and devoid of humour, it's not. The photography is really nice, dark, atmospheric and
moody when it needs to be, the score is also very atmospheric. Production values overall seem very high.
Now onto the bad points... There are two moments when the movie descends into pure cheese the first one
being, I kid you not, a dating montage complete with a happy couple eating ice-cream cones overlooking a
beach scene... The second appears right at the very end and I'm not going to risk spoilers to point it out. The
only other really bad point I can come up with is that some of the movie's imagery is blatantly nabbed from
elsewhere, some like The Ring are pretty obvious, but, a very important portion of the film was spoilt for
me when I spent it pondering the audacity of the director, for blatantly stealing sections from a Short
Yuki Terai animation called The Mirror. If you've not seen it, it won't bother you and the imagery is
effective - but still...
Onto the disc itself...
The picture is Letterboxed at around 1:85:1 and the transfer is OK, nothing more, quite soft and lacking in
detail, disappointing for such a recent film. I noticed some print damage in the shape of black and white marks
at various points and I also noticed some edge haloing in the bright hospital scenes, quite bad at some points!
It's a shame that Universe neglected to make this an Anamorphic transfer as that would have sorted a few of the
problems.
I watched this with the DTS track and it's a cracker! The surrounds are used very effectively, it being a ghost
movie and all, and the jumps are a hell of a lot more effective when they're coming out of all 6 speakers. I
enjoyed this a lot! I briefly took a listen to sections of the other three soundtracks on the disc there are Dolby
Digital 5.1 tracks in the original Cantonese language and also a Mandarin dub. There is also a Cantonese Dolby Digital
2.0 track. All of the tracks are good but the DTS is the clear winner, especially in the Wall Trembling Bass stakes.
Go on... Crank it up loud and make your neighbours hate you!
The subtitles are rather decent, with only the occasional spelling/grammatical error. I hardly
noticed any and you'll probably find more in this review! Sadly, along with the letterbox transfer Universe
have also decided to place a line of the subtitles in the lower black bar, meaning that Widescreen TV owners
won't be able to make use of the 'Zoom' function.
Extras wise we have a trailer for 'Inner Senses' (no subs) and trailers for two other films called 'Tiramisu'
and 'July Rhapsody.' which have burnt-in english subs. There's also a shortish 'Making Of' which looks pretty
cheesy, has no English subs and, also, is best left until after you've seen the movie as it gives away quite a
few of the jumps. The disc is rounded off by Biographies of Cheung, Lam and producer Derek Yee.
All in all, a pretty decent disc for a pretty decent film. Both could have been improved upon in certain
areas, but for all that, it's well worth a purchase... If only to remind ourselves of the talent that Cinema
has lost!
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Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
