My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
Encyclopedia
My Left Eye Sees Ghosts is a 2002
Hong Kong film
produced and directed by Johnnie To
and Wai Ka-Fai
, and starring Sammi Cheng
, Lau Ching-Wan
, Lee San-San, and Cherrie Ying
. The film includes elements of tongue-in-cheek horror
, comedy
, romance
and drama
, and does not fit neatly into any one genre.
. May told several joking lies to win her Stanford-educated, extremely successful husband, and his mother and sister are less than pleased when they find out, especially since they still harbor suspicions about her motives in marrying her husband after knowing him for only seven days. Nonetheless, the house, fortune, and a portion of the family fashion company are hers. Depressed, alone, and deeply missing her husband (feelings further exacerbated when her husband's dog, Whisky, dies), May goes on a binge of eating, drinking, smoking, watching television, and stealing from her own company's stores, culminating in a drunken car ride and near-fatal car accident.
May finds herself lying on the ground outside her car and thinks she is unscathed, until she approaches her vehicle and sees her bloody body in the driver's seat. Ken Wong (Lau Ching Wan) appears to her and scares her into returning to her body, reviving herself.
Although she just barely evaded death, the left side of May's face is heavily injured. Later in the hospital, when she removes the gauze covering her left eye, she suddenly realizes she can see ghosts with that eye. She soon finds herself in the constant company and care of the ghost Ken, who claims that he is her former classmate who died when he was 13 in a typhoon out at sea. Throughout their escapades in the realm of the supernatural, May slowly develops a connection with him. However, despite all the ghosts she has encountered, her husband has never appeared to her and she deeply wants to see him, even for just an instant. Ken attempts to help her fulfill this wish before he crosses the Twilight Junction to be reincarnated though it initially appears she did not succeed. Only the spirit of her husband's late dog, Whisky, appears - seemingly close to Ken as if the canine knows him. Ken ask May for a final wish to hug her before he moves on, and in doing so she had to pretend that he was her husband.
Later, she goes to check on the restoration of her husband's vintage car and discovers the restorer resembles Ken, who turned to be the real Ken who did not really die when he was 13. She finally realize that the ghost who had been at her side all the while was actually her dead husband in disguise to prevent her from becoming too attached to him and to urge her to move on. She tries several ways to contact him after he had moved on, but all attempts were useless. Her ability to see ghosts had also disappeared. The film ends with a hint of a future romance between May and Ken.
Hong Kong films of 2002
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 2002:.-2002:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 2002 at...
Hong Kong film
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
produced and directed by Johnnie To
Johnnie To
Johnnie To Kei-Fung, born 22 April 1955, is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas...
and Wai Ka-Fai
Wai Ka-Fai
Wai Ka-Fai is a Hong Kong writer, filmmaker, producer and former TV director and producer.Wai is best known for his frequent collaborations with Johnnie To, another former TV turned film director and producer. In 1996, they formed Milkyway Image, which is now one of the most successful independent...
, and starring Sammi Cheng
Sammi Cheng
Sammi Cheng Sau-Man is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. Having enjoyed much success in the Hong Kong music industry, Sammi has been known as a diva and has been one of the most successful female singer in Hong Kong since the 1990s. Her albums have sold more than 25 million copies through...
, Lau Ching-Wan
Lau Ching-Wan
Sean Lau Ching-Wan is a Hong Kong Film Award–winning and Golden Bauhinia Award–winning film and former television actor based in Hong Kong.Lau was born in Hong Kong in 1964. He joined the TVB acting classes in 1983 and made his first appearance on TV the following year with TV drama Draw Out the...
, Lee San-San, and Cherrie Ying
Cherrie Ying
Ting Man , better known as Cherrie Ying or Ying Choi-yi, is a Hong Kong actress. She moved to New York City at a young age, and later moved to Hong Kong...
. The film includes elements of tongue-in-cheek horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
and drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, and does not fit neatly into any one genre.
Synopsis
May Ho (Sammi Cheng) is a woman who inherits a vast fortune when her rich husband drowns in a scuba diving accident in the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. May told several joking lies to win her Stanford-educated, extremely successful husband, and his mother and sister are less than pleased when they find out, especially since they still harbor suspicions about her motives in marrying her husband after knowing him for only seven days. Nonetheless, the house, fortune, and a portion of the family fashion company are hers. Depressed, alone, and deeply missing her husband (feelings further exacerbated when her husband's dog, Whisky, dies), May goes on a binge of eating, drinking, smoking, watching television, and stealing from her own company's stores, culminating in a drunken car ride and near-fatal car accident.
May finds herself lying on the ground outside her car and thinks she is unscathed, until she approaches her vehicle and sees her bloody body in the driver's seat. Ken Wong (Lau Ching Wan) appears to her and scares her into returning to her body, reviving herself.
Although she just barely evaded death, the left side of May's face is heavily injured. Later in the hospital, when she removes the gauze covering her left eye, she suddenly realizes she can see ghosts with that eye. She soon finds herself in the constant company and care of the ghost Ken, who claims that he is her former classmate who died when he was 13 in a typhoon out at sea. Throughout their escapades in the realm of the supernatural, May slowly develops a connection with him. However, despite all the ghosts she has encountered, her husband has never appeared to her and she deeply wants to see him, even for just an instant. Ken attempts to help her fulfill this wish before he crosses the Twilight Junction to be reincarnated though it initially appears she did not succeed. Only the spirit of her husband's late dog, Whisky, appears - seemingly close to Ken as if the canine knows him. Ken ask May for a final wish to hug her before he moves on, and in doing so she had to pretend that he was her husband.
Later, she goes to check on the restoration of her husband's vintage car and discovers the restorer resembles Ken, who turned to be the real Ken who did not really die when he was 13. She finally realize that the ghost who had been at her side all the while was actually her dead husband in disguise to prevent her from becoming too attached to him and to urge her to move on. She tries several ways to contact him after he had moved on, but all attempts were useless. Her ability to see ghosts had also disappeared. The film ends with a hint of a future romance between May and Ken.
Cast
- Sammi ChengSammi ChengSammi Cheng Sau-Man is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. Having enjoyed much success in the Hong Kong music industry, Sammi has been known as a diva and has been one of the most successful female singer in Hong Kong since the 1990s. Her albums have sold more than 25 million copies through...
- May Ho - Lau Ching WanLau Ching-WanSean Lau Ching-Wan is a Hong Kong Film Award–winning and Golden Bauhinia Award–winning film and former television actor based in Hong Kong.Lau was born in Hong Kong in 1964. He joined the TVB acting classes in 1983 and made his first appearance on TV the following year with TV drama Draw Out the...
- Ken Wong/Sam Wong - Lam Chi-Sing - May's brother
- Lam SuetLam SuetLam Suet is a Hong Kong actor.-Biography:Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after all the money had been squandered and Lam had to work various odd jobs to make a living.In the mid-eighties he got employment...
- May's dad - Lee San-san- Susan
- Li Fung - Exorcist
- Kelly LinKelly LinKelly Lin Hsi-Lei is a Taiwanese actress and model who has appeared mainly in Hong Kong films.-Biography:Lin was born in Taiwan in 1975. She moved to Santa Barbara, California with her family at the age of 12. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a Degree in Economics...
- Phantom of Sam's girlfriend - Szema Wah-Lung - Ghost
- Wong Tin-lamWong Tin-LamWong Tin-Lam was a Chinese screenwriter, producer, director, and actor, who has contributed a lot to the Hong Kong cinema scene with a career spanning six decades...
- Sam's dad - Bonnie Wong - Mrs. Tsui
- Simon YamSimon YamSimon Yam Tat-Wah , born March 19, 1955, is a Hong Kong actor and film producer.-Background:The son of a former police officer of Shangdong heritage, his father was a Hong Kong Royal Police ship captain who was murdered by his colleague....
- Ben - Cherrie YingCherrie YingTing Man , better known as Cherrie Ying or Ying Choi-yi, is a Hong Kong actress. She moved to New York City at a young age, and later moved to Hong Kong...
- Tina