JIAN GUI aka THE EYE (2002)
January 16th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: The Pang brothers
Actors: Angelica Lee,Lawrence Chou,Chutja Rujinanon
Genre: Horror,drama,thriller
JIAN GUI or GIN GWAI in cantonese is literally translated to “seen a ghost” in chinese. The western masses might know this original chinese film under the name, THE EYE. I’ve heard a few “expert” movie analysts slaughter this film in their reviews, but this E.T. found this ghostly piece to be an entertaining flick! JIAN GUI inspired directors David Moreau & Xavier Palud to remake this movie in 2008 for the rest of the united foreign nations which casted heavy hitter & easy on THE EYE, Jessica Alba!
The Pang brothers did an awesome job of adding nuggets & bon bons to the cinema trail tantalizing the viewer into putting pieces of the movie puzzle together to formulate the story of JIAN GUI! Without divulging too much information, Mun Mun is a blind young lady who lives life to the fullest even with her misfortunes. She excels in playing the violin, & escorts herself throughout hong kong like nobodies business. Mun Mun finally gets her wishes & gets a cornea transplant from a donor that lost her life unexpectedly. A mun slowly readjusts to life when she suddenly gains an added sense that she has been living without almost all of her existence. With all of these added features to the new eyes came a bonus track that suprises her, she can see spirits of the deceased when no one else can. Mun Mun tries to come to grips, but is frustrated that nobody else believes her. She hauntingly sees flashbacks to unfamiliar situations which is driving her paranoid. A mun can also forcast when death looms because she can see dark faded figures appear before lives are whisked away. Luckily, one person is by her side and they both go on a trip to thailand to trace the life of her eye donor. With this information, they unearth the reason behind JIAN GUI!
I really enjoyed the emotional ride of this film! I also found THE EYE with Jessica Alba pretty entertaining as well. There are a few modifications here & there with the western version because certain scenes would probably not translate well to the american audience in the name of religion & customs. Not a spoiler either, but Thailand in JIAN GUI is Mexico in THE EYE. And one last popcorn kernel, the ending of both of these movies are a bit different, but they achieve the same results! Got it?! Now, watch it!
Tags: angelica lee, jian gui, laurence chou, pang brothers, the eye
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
