When her previous project “Ordinary Heroes” failed to make a dent at the box office, director Ann Hui turned to a genre which has proven time and time again to be popular with audiences, especially in Asia, which is the blend of horror and comedy. In the past, Hong Kong cinema has made a name for itself, creating a plethora of features representing this unique brand, often with a few martial-arts-scenes added for good measure. In the case of Ann Hui, her new project “Visible Secret” is certainly a deviation when compared to, for example, “Boat People” or “Night and Fog”, whose stories, themes and characters are more grounded within reality. However, while it does stay close to popular tropes of the horror genre of the time, “Visible Secret” also offers an interesting twist to some of the themes which have been a constant presence in the director's work, even though they may not be presented as clearly as in her other projects.
Check also this interview
Finding a job and a girlfriend have always been challenges for Peter (Eason Chan), whose lack of talent in the former and bad luck in the latter aspect have contributed to his present situation. However, as he meets June (Shu Qi) at a disco, his luck seems to change, although it seems their encounter was more of a one-night-stand. After a while, the two become a couple, but Peter still feels like he is being kept at a distance from his new girlfriend, who refuses to let him inside her apartment among other things. She finally confesses she sees the ghosts of the recently deceased, and while she thought she had found a way to control these visions, they have been getting more frequent recently.
Upon finding out about June's secret, Peter does his best to stand by her and support her. As the two grow even closer, he also encounters strange visions, with one of them especially gruesome, as he is followed by a man demanding his head back. However, as these experiences have real-life consequences for Peter's friends and family, he feels the need to get to the bottom of the visions, what they mean and their potential danger.
On the one hand, you can read (and enjoy) “Visible Secret” as the genre blend mentioned before, but on the other hand there is something beyond the recognizable tropes many will undoubtedly recognize. What begins as a more or less typical story for horror delves more and more into a view of a world inhabited by the dead and ghosts. Interestingly, the majority of the ghosts Peter and June encounter do not come as a “jump scare” (with one notable exception to the rule), but are rather reminders of the past. Similar to the spirits she sees, June is also a haunted character, as emphasised by Su Qi's performance and also the writing. Much like Peter, the audience is drawn closer to this world of the dead which makes her distant and hard to figure out, even though you could dispute whether the conclusion to her character does her a disservice.
However, the world of the spirits is also the past. The characters and the space they occupy become something of an echo chamber for the past – a notion which is cleverly introduced to the narrative, for example, through the change of Peter's apartment or the names of the characters. In the end, the past is irretrievably gone, with the characters trying their best to hold on to it. In some scenes this is quite interestingly done, for example, the idea of the shop owned by Peter's parents now being a snack bar, but in some instances it falls flat like in the aforementioned ending.
In conclusion, “Visible Secret” is a blend of horror and comedy with a strong emphasis on the former. Ann Hui takes a step into unknown territory for herself, with some narratively interesting outcomes, but in the end sticks too close to the feature “Visible Secret” tries to imitate.
