SIFF: The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake

[scarlettina]

On Thursday night, for my seventh SIFF film, I saw "The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake", a Hong Kong historical martial arts drama about a female revolutionary set in the early 1900s. With impressive production values, sets, and costumes, not-bad acting (but no Oscar winners here, for sure), impressive scenery, and eye-popping martial-arts action that

Comments

[oldmangrumpus]

It's never explained why, precisely, Qiu Jin is referred to as the woman knight of Mirror Lake.

Because it was one of her various pen-names, a common practice among literary and official Chinese.

But of course you're right, they never bother to explain it.

[scarlettina]

It's a question of cultural literacy. The film wasn't made for an American audience; it was made for a Chinese audience presumed to have prior knowledge of the person and her story. It was frustrating to me, but that doesn't mean the choice wasn't a valid one for the filmmakers. But yeah, it was one more detail that didn't sit well with me.

[oldmangrumpus]

And frequently Chinese films have names that are nothing like the names in English. This one has the same literal name, which at least some Chinese probably know as her name, but also "Qiu Jin" on the end, which many more would know. But to Westerners? I doubt literally one in a million would recognize that name. I wouldn't have, and in retrospect I know I've read about her before. The literal translation sounded more exciting.

[holyoutlaw]

This sounds right up my alley. I hope it gets a general release.

[randy_byers]

Yeah, I've been wondering about this one too, since I ran across a review at lovehkfilm.com.