Leste Chen’s “THE GREAT HYPNOTIST”, presented by Wanda Media, starring Xu Zheng and Karen Mok, opened on April 29, just before the three-day Labour Day public holiday in China. It was set as one of the big releases for the holiday and it scored ¥20 million over the first completed weekend, giving 13-day cumulative total of over ¥200 million to date. With “THE GREAT HYPNOTIST”, Leste Chen finally gets to realise a decade of cinematic ambition with a high-concept thriller that pushes the boundaries of Chinese-language genre cinema.
Karen Mok plays Ren Xiaoyana, a patient who brings Xu Ruining, a nationally renowned hypnotherapist, a complex problem and always reacts violently to any problems with him. Karen also adds in a moment of tenderness towards the end of the movie by singing . So far, reviews from mainstream critics were overwhelmingly positive and they also commented that this is Karen’s best flim performance of all time.