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(reviewed on 3/11/04)

瘋劫 (The Secret)
year: 1979
country: Hong Kong
directed by: 許鞍華 (Ann Hui)

Ann Hui is the respected Hong Kong filmmaker whose profile includes the acclaimed movies '女人，四十 (Summer Snow)' and '千言萬語 (Ordinary Heroes)'. 'The Secret', made in 1979, is her first feature film, and is one of the landmarks of the New Wave Movement in the Hong Kong 70's cinema.

Similar to many entries in the Hong Kong New Wave tradition, this film is rather violent and controversial, and its deliberate wildness may come as a shock to the local audience nowadays. 'The Secret' is a pseudo-ghost story, which in fact is a noir style film set in the restless, old districts in the 70's Hong Kong. I've somewhat expected the bleakness of its content before watching this film from my previous viewing experience of other productions of the some period, such as Tsui Hark's 'Dangerous Encounter of the First Kind (第一類型危險)'; what surprises me most about this film is its Hitchcockian tone throughout: this is like a Hitchcock mystery story enriched with sharp cuttings and a non-linear narrative structure; its plot of switching identity owes a bit to that of Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', and the film has even employed the famous 'forward zoom and reverse tracking' shot from that classic film!

Supposedly based on a true story, this engaging thriller starts with a brutal murder case and proceeds as a friend (a very young and pretty Sylvia Chang) of one of the victims starts her own investigation, as she constantly sees the shadow of her murdered friend in her empty room. As it turns out, things begin to spin out of control and are, as we all know, not as what they seemed to be. One has to appreciate the brimming talent and daring approach of the director, making her name with such a explosive debut film. (But you may also put it this way: that one should be reasonably dissapointed by the recent productions of the director as they get more and more conventional and mediocre).

'The Secret' starts off brilliantly and progressively pushes the limit along the plot. The only disappointment about this film is that, while it's nice to see a filmmaker dare to go all out, when the film approaches its finale, the director looks to be losing grip on her own mind together with the characters under her camera - the ending sequence ranks as one of the most ridiculous sequences I've seen in cinema.

rating: 6/10