Double Vision (2002 film)

Double Vision
Double Vision
	DVD cover for Double Vision
Directed by	Chen Kuo-fu
Written by	Chen Kuo-fu; Su Chao-pin
Produced by	Chen Kuo-fu; Huang Chih-ming
Starring	Tony Leung Ka-fai; David Morse; Rene Liu
Cinematography	Arthur Wong; Han Yun-chun
Edited by	Man Chi-ming; Wei Te-sheng; Chen Kuo-fu
Music by	Cincin Lee
Production; companies	Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia Limited; Nan Fang Film Production
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International
Release dates	20 May 2002 (Cannes Film Festival); 25 October 2002 (Taiwan);
Running time	113 minutes; 110 minutes (USA)
Countries	Taiwan; Hong Kong
Languages	Mandarin; Taiwanese; English
Box office	US$1.5 million

Double Vision (Chinese: 雙瞳; pinyin: Shuang tong) is a 2002 action horror film directed by Chen Kuo-fu. The plot is about an FBI agent working with a troubled Taiwanese cop to hunt for a serial killer who is embedding a mysterious black fungus in the brains of the victims. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Police detective Huang Huo-tu, a Waisheng ren (Mainland Chinese) in Taiwan, has relegated himself to a mundane job as a Foreign Affairs Officer as self-punishment for blowing the whistle on corruption in the force, and his colleagues have turned their backs on him. His young daughter is left traumatized after being taken hostage in a gun battle, and his wife Ching-fang is filing for divorce. Huang is on the verge of a severe nervous breakdown.

A series of bizarre deaths in Taipei baffle local investigators, including a Christian preacher of foreign nationality found disemboweled. The priest is involved in the Taiwan-US military trade, so FBI agent Kevin Richter is called in to help. Huang, who can speak English, is made his liaison. Kevin, the topmost serial killer expert in the field, was previously investigating a series of murders in US in which all victims appeared willing to die.

The crime scenes imply the involvement of supernatural forces. In one case a businessman froze to death in his office in the middle of a heatwave; in another the mistress of a prominent official called the fire department and was later found burned to death - with no sign of a fire ever occurring in her apartment. Richter is skeptical but Huang, who is more receptive to supernatural possibilities, suggests they investigate a local cult. After consulting a scholar in Academia Sinica, Huang and Kevin find that the killings follows a form of Taoist belief that one must fulfill five types of suffering required to become a Xian, an immortal being. According to legend, having double pupils allows a person to see the sins of another. The scholar tells them that there is a legend of a person who had double pupils, he used his ability to send these sinners to hell, and subsequently acquired immortality through his actions.

They also find that all victims have done something against their conscience, and that a kind of fungus was used to induce hallucination, pleasure and guilt which made the victims kill themselves. An advanced technology was used to spread the fungus, and the Police traced this technology to two bosses of an electronics company in Hsinchu Science Park. The men spent their fortune to move a Taoist temple into their company, where many cultists gather. The police enter the building and finds the temple. They start to arrest everyone but the cultists fight back. There is a massacre and many officers and cultists die. After the massacre Kevin and Huang finds a seemingly innocent girl hidden inside a chamber at the back of the temple. The case is closed.

The next day Huang finds Kevin dead, having pulled out his own tongue, which is the fifth suffering required. Huang finds that both he and Kevin were infected with the fungus. Huang begins to hallucinate, tormented by the guilt he feels for his wife and daughter. He sees the girl survivor beckoning to him so he goes off in search of her. He visits the hospital but is informed that the girl left. He then goes to the temple where the girl is waiting for him. It is revealed that the girl is the actual cult's leader who has the double pupils in her eye and believes that by having Huang kill her, she can complete the final and last requirement to become immortal. The girls puts Huang through a series of hallucinations, his guilt building and eating away at his consciousness, until it finally culminates into Huang killing her.

There are two endings to the film. Both using Buddhist Gatha. The happy ending reveals that "love is immortal" (有愛不死), hinting to us that Huang doesn't die and he is saved because of the love for his family. The other version from the DVD reveals that he dies.

Cast

Tony Leung Ka-fai as Huang Huo-tu
David Morse as Kevin Richter
Rene Liu as Ching-fang
Leon Dai as Li Feng-bo
Yang Kuei-mei as Coroner
Huang Wei-han as Mei-mei
Sihung Lung as Dr. Sheng
Hannah Lin as Hsieh Ya-li
Ray Chang as Plainclothes police officer

Influence

The film is a Columbia Pictures production, and the director Chen Kuo-fu, at the time, was the head of Columbia Pictures' Asian branch. It is one of a series of attempts by Columbia Pictures to invest and produce Asian movies with its Asian branch. The film impressed Taiwanese directors with its "Hollywood way" of filmmaking. With this film the director Chen Kuo-fu accumulated his experience in international collaboration and went on to work in China.^[4] The film's assistant director Wei Te-sheng and producer Jimmy Huang said they were stimulated by the big-budget effects of the film, and determined to make a movie on big budget. They later collaborated in local hit Cape No. 7 and big budget epic Seediq Bale.^[5] The film's screenwriter Su Chao-Pin later directed Silk. Leon Dai, a supporting actor, later directed No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti. They said that they were stimulated by this production.^[6]

Awards and nominations

List of Accolades
Award / Film Festival	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
22nd Hong Kong Film Awards	Best Screenplay	Chen Kuo-fu, Su Chao-pin	Nominated
	Best Actor	Tony Leung Ka-fai	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Rene Liu	Won
	Best Cinematography	Arthur Wong	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Man Chi-ming	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Timmy Yip	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Peter Webb	Nominated
39nd Golden Horse Awards	Best Supporting Actor	David Morse	Nominated
	Best Sound Effects	Paul Pirola, Tu Duu-chih	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Patrick Wang, Peter Webb	Nominated
4th Asian Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Rene Liu	Won

References

^ "Double Vision (2002)". Archived from the original on August 2, 2021.
^ "Double Vision". Box Office Mojo.
^ "Festival de Cannes: Double Vision". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
^ Teng Sue-feng. Translated by David Smith. "Chen Kuo-fu--Back With a "Message" Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. Dec. 2009.
^ Teng Sue-feng. "Can the Blockbuster Save Taiwan Film?" ---. Dec. 2009. Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan Panorama. "Biggest Production in Taiwan Film History-Seediq Bale" Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. Feb. 2009.
^ Kuo Li-chuan. Translated by David Smith. "The Making of No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. October. 2009.

External links

Double Vision at IMDb

[1] "Double Vision (2002)". Archived from the original on August 2, 2021.

[2] "Double Vision". Box Office Mojo.

[festival-cannes.com-3] "Festival de Cannes: Double Vision". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-30.

[4] Teng Sue-feng. Translated by David Smith. "Chen Kuo-fu--Back With a "Message" Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. Dec. 2009.

[5] Teng Sue-feng. "Can the Blockbuster Save Taiwan Film?" ---. Dec. 2009. Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan Panorama. "Biggest Production in Taiwan Film History-Seediq Bale" Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. Feb. 2009.

[6] Kuo Li-chuan. Translated by David Smith. "The Making of No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Panorama. October. 2009.

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