Spoilers for Visible Secret (2001)
Ann Hui’s 2001 horror comedy, Visible Secret, follows hairdresser Peter (Eason Chan) and his on-again, off-again girlfriend June (Shu Qi) as they attempt to discover the mysteries behind a series of violent hauntings.
Set in Hong Kong, the film deals with the in-between. The space between what was and what will be. Between the slapstick possessions and moments of genuine dread, are scenes that make the characters – and, in turn, the audience – question what is beyond life as we know it. What do we become when we are no longer us?
For the occupants of Hong Kong, they were in a state of flux also. Visible Secret was released just four years after The Handover when control of Hong Kong was released by the British Empire and handed over to China. In the run-up to this, there was mass emigration from the territory, and while the Chinese government guaranteed that the economic and political systems would remain in place for fifty years, there must have been a huge amount of uncertainty among citizens.
None of this was helped by the fact that The Handover coincided with the start of the Asian financial crisis, followed by an outbreak of avian flu and the 2003 SARS epidemic. In 1998, the architecture of Hong Kong started to change, following the closure of Kai Tak Airport. The previous height restrictions were removed and taller buildings and skyscrapers started to fill the skyline. This aspect of the territory remains in flux, with constant redevelopment throughout the urban areas.
This is to say that like the psychic, June, in Visible Secret, Hong Kong was on a precipice when the film was released. June is vibrant when we are introduced to her, but troubled by gruesome images of the past. Because of this, she wears sunglasses, even at night; she stares off into the distance to avoid looking around her.
Through something beyond her control, June finds herself living in two periods. This becomes more pronounced when she is possessed by the ghost of Wong Siu-kam, a young woman in mourning. Here, we see the focus switch to Peter as he struggles to maintain a relationship with two opposing personalities. Both characters find themselves trying to live with a rapidly developing situation, one that neither has autonomy over.
But perhaps the most telling scene is the one that bookends the film. Peter’s father accidentally knocks a man under a tram; an event that leads to Peter being haunted, and June being traumatised after finding the decapitated head.
Like Hong Kong itself, Peter and June are caught looking backwards while the future remains uncertain. The ghosts of an Empire; of Japanese occupation constantly seen out of the corner of the eye, but with a bigger change on the horizon.
Hui makes the interesting choice of avoiding the rapidly developing areas of Hong Kong, instead, the film is shot in the cramped streets of traditional tenement blocks and shop fronts. She invokes the past of the territory and is quick to play up the generational divide between the main characters and their elders. It both reveres the past and acknowledges the darker history, never once looking to what might be.
Director: Ann Hui
Writer: Abe Kwong
Starring: Eason Chan, Shu Qi, Anthony Wong, Sam Lee, James Wong
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