Since the Mainland China has become the most important market for Hong Kong Cinema, the production mode of co-productions has become the mainstream of Hong Kong Cinema, and only a few do not want to be restricted by Mainland market and continue to "stay in Hong Kong" to develop markets in other regions. Horror and supernatural movies have always been a very important genre of Hong Kong Cinema. This genre can be relatively low-budget and does not need to use stars, the small knife can break out according to a big tree. We remember that "Mr. Vampire" (1985), Jeffrey Lau Chun-Wai's "The Haunted Cop Shop" (1987) series, Herman Yau Lai-To's "Troublesome Night" (1997) series, all shined brightly. Until Peter Chan Ho-Sun and the Pang Brothers cooperated "The Eye" (2002) with higher budget production, with high-quality special effects and sound effects created by the genre have successfully opened up new ways. And many directors use horror and supernatural themes to describe human nature. Among them, Wellson Chin Sing-Wai and Abe Kwong Man-Wai's "July 13th" (1996) series is a model of "borrowing ghosts to write people", and Abe Kwong and Ann Hui On-Wah's two episodes "Visible Secret" (2001) is the pinnacle of work.
Just after "The Eye" was a big hit at the box office, Johnnie To Kei-Fung and Wai Ka-Fai, the "golden" combination, also started filming "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts" (2002), Wai Ka-Fai also borrowed ghosts to capitalize on human nature and love. Although the overall results of the film were not satisfactory, but the layout is wonderful, and it can be said that it was written by the "master" Wai Ka-Fai. After Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai broke up, the two developed their own ways. Wai Ka-Fai still did not forget to use the supernatural to write the theme of human feelings. "Written By" (2009) can be regarded as the sequel to "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts". "Written By" is a co-production film, starring Lau Ching-Wan, Kelly Lin Hsi-Lei and Mainland actress Mia Yam, supernatural subject matter restricted by Mainland film censorship, Wai Ka-Fai had no choice but to find another "way", and used the character Melody played by Mai Yam to write a novel for comfort Kelly Lin plays her mother Mandy, who lost her beloved, Tony played by Lau Ching-Wan, Melody's father. "Rationalize" the supernatural elements of the film into fictional content in the film to avoid the restrictions of Mainland censorship. In the setting of the film, one can't help but think of the Pang Brothers' film "Re-cycle" (2006), which also uses the authorship played by Angelica Lee Sinje to enter the supernatural space of her novel world.
However, Wai Ka-Fai played his screenwriter's "master tricks", the structure is complex and changeable. Melody swapped the roles of life and death in reality with the roles in the novel. Returning to a year after the family car accident, Tony lost his eyesight due to an accident and missed his dead wife with a pair of children. Melody is blinded by a car accident in reality, and his mother Mandy misses her husband Tony. In the novel, Melody who was still a young child, became a little Meng Po (Meng Po is the goddess of forgetfulness in Chinese mythology, who serves Meng Po Soup on the Bridge of Forgetfulness. This soup wipes the memory of the person so they can reincarnate into the next life without the burdens of the previous life), and used magic power to make her mother and brother return to the world to re-narrate with their father, when the novel brought comfort to the mother, the mother and brother encountered an accident and were crushed to death by the collapsed terrace, heartbreaking for Melody.
At the beginning of the film, Melody stood on the rooftop and vented her anger to the sky. One is to let her survive and live a good life, and the other is to let her retell with her parents and younger brother after her death. Tony in the novel learned that it was his daughter who wrote the novel to keep him "not dead". He and his grown-up daughter crashed into the same time and space, Jo Kuk Cho-Lam's Meng Po and little Meng Po are reading the book of life and death in the underworld. Tony wrote novels in the novel world in order not to let his daughter die in vain, so that her daughter could live a good life. Through reality, Melody's novels, Tony's novels in the novels, and the director's fictional underworld, the story travels through four different spaces and interacts with characters in different time and space. Describes the pain of missing family members due to separation of life and death, and the helplessness of irreversible fate. In the end, Melody did not die in reality, and stayed and lived a good life. Wai Ka-Fai's handling of such a complex story is well organized, but has certain challenges and demands for the general audience, the film is limited to the production scale, and the overall level is not ideal. In addition, the three actors are obviously difficult to adapt to the emotional contraction in different spaces, resulting in the film failing to achieve the expected effect.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
Just after "The Eye" was a big hit at the box office, Johnnie To Kei-Fung and Wai Ka-Fai, the "golden" combination, also started filming "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts" (2002), Wai Ka-Fai also borrowed ghosts to capitalize on human nature and love. Although the overall results of the film were not satisfactory, but the layout is wonderful, and it can be said that it was written by the "master" Wai Ka-Fai. After Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai broke up, the two developed their own ways. Wai Ka-Fai still did not forget to use the supernatural to write the theme of human feelings. "Written By" (2009) can be regarded as the sequel to "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts". "Written By" is a co-production film, starring Lau Ching-Wan, Kelly Lin Hsi-Lei and Mainland actress Mia Yam, supernatural subject matter restricted by Mainland film censorship, Wai Ka-Fai had no choice but to find another "way", and used the character Melody played by Mai Yam to write a novel for comfort Kelly Lin plays her mother Mandy, who lost her beloved, Tony played by Lau Ching-Wan, Melody's father. "Rationalize" the supernatural elements of the film into fictional content in the film to avoid the restrictions of Mainland censorship. In the setting of the film, one can't help but think of the Pang Brothers' film "Re-cycle" (2006), which also uses the authorship played by Angelica Lee Sinje to enter the supernatural space of her novel world.
However, Wai Ka-Fai played his screenwriter's "master tricks", the structure is complex and changeable. Melody swapped the roles of life and death in reality with the roles in the novel. Returning to a year after the family car accident, Tony lost his eyesight due to an accident and missed his dead wife with a pair of children. Melody is blinded by a car accident in reality, and his mother Mandy misses her husband Tony. In the novel, Melody who was still a young child, became a little Meng Po (Meng Po is the goddess of forgetfulness in Chinese mythology, who serves Meng Po Soup on the Bridge of Forgetfulness. This soup wipes the memory of the person so they can reincarnate into the next life without the burdens of the previous life), and used magic power to make her mother and brother return to the world to re-narrate with their father, when the novel brought comfort to the mother, the mother and brother encountered an accident and were crushed to death by the collapsed terrace, heartbreaking for Melody.
At the beginning of the film, Melody stood on the rooftop and vented her anger to the sky. One is to let her survive and live a good life, and the other is to let her retell with her parents and younger brother after her death. Tony in the novel learned that it was his daughter who wrote the novel to keep him "not dead". He and his grown-up daughter crashed into the same time and space, Jo Kuk Cho-Lam's Meng Po and little Meng Po are reading the book of life and death in the underworld. Tony wrote novels in the novel world in order not to let his daughter die in vain, so that her daughter could live a good life. Through reality, Melody's novels, Tony's novels in the novels, and the director's fictional underworld, the story travels through four different spaces and interacts with characters in different time and space. Describes the pain of missing family members due to separation of life and death, and the helplessness of irreversible fate. In the end, Melody did not die in reality, and stayed and lived a good life. Wai Ka-Fai's handling of such a complex story is well organized, but has certain challenges and demands for the general audience, the film is limited to the production scale, and the overall level is not ideal. In addition, the three actors are obviously difficult to adapt to the emotional contraction in different spaces, resulting in the film failing to achieve the expected effect.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)