As I watched The Great Hypnotist, I couldn’t help but
feel that there was something being lost in the translation. There is a
fantastic tradition of dialogue-heavy narratives with two characters verbally
dueling through a series of twists and revelations, and this certainly seems to
be a fitting categorization for this film as well, but it had little success in
captivating my attention. This is why I wondered if it was the subtitle
translation preventing me from becoming gripped by the dialogue, or if it were
merely uninspired writing to blame.
The basic premise
for The Great Hypnotist is also
vaguely familiar, setting up the narrative with an expositional sequence
introducing us to world renowned psychologist, Ruining Xu (Xu Zheng). The plot
moves along quickly in the beginning, but this is only in its rush to get to
the primary chunk of the narrative, which slows down the pace dramatically. He
agrees to take on a new patient named Xiaoyan Ren (Karen Mok) and their first session
is the remainder of the film. Xiaoyan is able to match Ruining’s intelligence
and the dialogue becomes a battle of wit and will between the two.
There are many
twists and turns in the narrative, which I won’t reveal here, though I will say
that the revelation was not nearly as impactful as the mystery itself. There is
also some stylistic misdirection which may lead some audiences to believe that
the film belongs in a different genre than suspense. While I’m glad that this
did not devolve into a ghost story, I’m not sure that the approach to the
material highlight’s the screenplay’s strengths. This is a thoughtful drama
which should be grounded by the performances of its leads, but instead tries
throwing flashy visuals and eerie suspense at the audience as a distraction
until the final reveal. My disinterest in the film may be partially due to my
inability to understand Mandarin, but there are some aspects of visual
storytelling which cannot be explained away by a language barrier.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6.5/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
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