Synopsis
The Great Hypnotist (催眠大师, 2014) is a Chinese psychological thriller you can watch online on iFILM. Its hero, Xu Ruining, is regarded as the country's finest hypnotherapist — right up until a patient walks in who breaks every technique he has.
A former professor hands him the difficult case: Ren Xiaoyan insists she can see ghosts and has defeated every other therapist. Xu sets out to prove it's trauma, not the supernatural. But as the sessions go on, the roles start to shift, and it stops being clear who is leading whom.
Xu Zheng, better known for comedy, plays against type as the cool professional, with Karen Mok as his slippery opponent; their duel inside one dim office carries the whole picture. Director Leste Chen keeps almost all the action in a single room, then uses one turn to rewrite the meaning of every scene before it. Made for viewers who like a thriller that outplays them fairly. Stream The Great Hypnotist (2014) online on iFILM.
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