6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Qin Jin - the first female revolutionist in Chinese history. Qin was born in a worry-free official family. The more she studied, the more she loved her country. Fist, martial arts, horse-riding and archery of this little young lady even outperformed her brothers. However, her husband concerned nothing about home nor country. Qiu could only resort to poems to express her emotions. A big quarrel made Qiu leave her home in dismay. As an admirer of Japanese culture after Meiji Reform, she went to Japan for further studies. In Japan, she and other classmates initiated Plain-language Paper to inculcate patriotic message: Kyoaikai (Tong Ai Association) to promote of man and woman. Through Social Democratic Association. Xu Xi Lin was introduced. They had some vision and joined force for revolution in China. They ran Da Tong Military School and paved way for the revolution.
Starring: Rose Chan, Kevin Cheng, Yi Huang, Yu-Hang To, Anthony Chau-Sang WongForeign | 100% |
Action | 93% |
Martial arts | 51% |
History | 21% |
Period | 12% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Mandarin: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional)
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Is there such as a thing as female chauvinism? To understand what is meant by that question, it’s best to look at the original meaning of the word chauvinism, which initially referred to a belief in national supremacy. In that regard, the Hitler and the National Socialists were chauvinists supreme. But of course the term was adopted and modified in the mid-20th century to male chauvinism, the sort of preening, cocky attitude that gives guys a bad name. In this particular instance, “female chauvinism” might be thought of as a sort of “combo platter” combining elements of both meanings, focused on a movement that is in direct opposition to male chauvinism, the long struggle by women for equal rights. But a subset of that struggle ties in to the original meaning of the word chauvinism, for a lot of Americans seem to think that the movments like suffrage and, later, equal pay and the like started with such iconic figures as Susan B. Anthony, and then passed on to more contemporary women such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. But of course other nations have their own legendary women who have attempted to forge an equal place for women in their own cultures, and many of those women long predate their American counterparts. And so, in one sense, there may be a certain kind of female chauvinism, where Americans believe that only their history with equal rights for women has been of any import. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake should put a quick lie to that premise, as it is a fictionalized but very effective biography of a late 19th and early 20th century Chinese woman, Qiu Jin, who was espousing some basic principals of feminism long before that term ever entered the public lexicon. It might seem particularly odd to think of feminism with regard to Chinese culture, since women seem so preternaturally subjugated there, at least historically speaking. But that only makes Qiu Jin’s struggle all the more moving and all the more prescient, in terms of the huge cultural changes that would occur in the decades after her execution in 1907.
The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is one of the more elegant looking high definition presentations of a live action film we've seen from FUNimation, and it augurs well for the company's move to branch out from its more traditional anime fare. The Blu-ray offers some gorgeously saturated colors, though it seems like once again the DI has been tweaked and filtered towards a blue-green side of the spectrum quite a bit of the time. That said, fine detail is really incredibly robust and the spectrum of colors here is amazing, with reds and purples especially vivid. Depth of field is excellent in the many exterior shots and aside from some very minor murkiness in some of the shadow detail, this is a stellar offering that presents a really extraordinarily beautiful film in a nicely popping presentation.
The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake has two nicely immersive lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio tracks, one in the original Mandarin and another in English. The English dub is actually pretty good as far as these things go, and its mix is almost identical to the Mandarin track, but purists will of course want to stick with the original language. Fidelity is top notch here, and there's a veritable glut of great surround activity, especially in the action sequences. Even the quieter dialogue moments have some nice discretely placed ambient environmental effects which really help to open up the sound field. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, and the evocative underscore also spills into the surrounds and helps to underpin the drama quite effectively.
The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake might be too much a niche product to attract a really wide audience, but my hunch is even those who couldn't care less about women's rights or even Chinese history might find themselves swept up in this compelling drama, one that is helped immeasurably by a really opulent physical production and a commanding lead performance by Huang Yi. Herman Yau once again proves himself a master of crafting huge set pieces while never forsaking the intimate human drama at the center of his stories. While The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake might be faulted for overplaying its kind of silly martial arts hand (and feet), the film offers a really interesting look at a fascinating figure who has achieved legendary status in China. This Blu-ray offers excellent video and audio, and even though the supplementary features are pretty slight, this release comes Highly recommended.
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