ASIA ASSAULT: INNER SENSES (2002)

Pushed out at the final wave of Tartan Asia Extreme releases comes 'Inner Senses', a film which is more known for the passing of it's lead Leslie Cheung after production. Released back in 2006 four years after it's 2002 initial run, Tartan unfortunately tried to pass this off as just another Ringu rip off. Exploring such complex topics as clinical depression, trauma and suicide, 'Inner Senses' is more interested in character development then delivering J Horror schlock.

Wedged somewhere between Takashi Miike's Audition and The Pang Brothers 'The Eye', Law Chi-leung's film centres on Jim (Cheung), a psychiatrist tries to help a disturbed woman who claims to see dead people. The initial premise seems familiar, playing out like a mixtape all of the best bits from Asian Horror. We get a young woman buying a rundown apartment at a reduced rate (Dark Water) who is then starts repeatedly haunted by vengeful spirits that may or may not be real (Pulse). Jim is initially hired to look over a case that a colleague, who also happens to be his only friend cannot complete due to personal reasons. Jim in many ways feels a lot like Andy Nyman's Professor Goodmen in 'Ghost Stories', someone who is more interested in debunking that Ghosts exist by way of psychology. 

Jim is someone who is more interested in reading his non-fiction books than meeting his friends. He is the epitome of a work alcoholic. Although in the first act, the film plays out like an awkward romantic drama of two broken people trying to find each other, it soon becomes clear that Jim's motivations of helping Yan are marketted in familiarity. Jim is hiding something. It's only when he begins to explore a relationship with his patient that Yan's hallunications become his. 'Inner Senses' is a tale of two halves. The first half focuses on Yan's recover after several failed suicide attempts. Yan starts to develop feelings for Jim out of loneliness. Although initially Jim rejects these advances, her hallunications come back-resulting in another suicide attempt. Feeling a genuine sense of guilt, Jim's robotic like structure becomes unstuck. After waking 30 hours after her suicide attempt, Jim begins to develop symptoms that are the polar opposite of his belief's. 

The second half of the film then transitions into the Jim's inner trauma. As he begins to see ghostly apparitions of a young girl, the line between sanity and insanity are blurred. Although this is a fairly played out narrative construct, Leslie Cheung's performance is truly believeable. It's even more disturbing that he later went on to commit suicide. There must of been something in this material that Leslie felt drawn too. Was it the thoughts of self-destruction of Jim's character, lead on by guilt of losing a loved one or his own desires of suicide? This film real strength lies in the serious plot, exploring about people who cannot recover from the losses in their pasts. It becomes increasingly more uncomfortable witnessing Leung's character pushed to the brink of suicide by a ghost. Given the similarities of his suicide, death by way of jumping from a tall building, you are left wondering if art inspired reality?

If you go into 'Inner Senses' expecting unrelenting scare, you are likely going to be disappointed. This is more of a character study on relationships and how they can mark us as people. These characters are haunted by their pasts, past relationships that were marked in tragedy. Tragedy doesn't always mean death. A rejection, the breakup of a relationship can affect people in different ways. In this film, these people are shaped by their brokenness. These events have somehow made them miserable, suicidal, unable to get a grip on day to day life. True horror comes within us. Life is a demanding ask at times. Only the strongest can get through it. 'Inner Senses' shows that no matter your age, you can experience mental health problems. This film works as a metaphor of sorts, using the horror genre to tell a very relatable narrative that we could all experience. Now that's something to be terrified about.