SPOILERS AHEAD (but honestly, who cares?)
Strengths:
- Good attempt at wuxia
- Bringing in an Asian cinematic style to compliment the cinematography
- Mulan’s androgenous face
- Liu Yifei’s facial features could (just barely) pull off as a man
- Wide shots
- Shows off scenic landscapes of New Zealand and China
Problems:
- The overemphasis with ‘chi’ or ‘qi’
- Over-mythologizes a story of a regular being’s struggle against identity
- Oversaturation of symmetrical shots
- The shots look great but grows old fast
- A pointless phoenix
- Doesn’t add to the story, and oversimplifies the meaning of a phoenix in Chinese culture
- Forced dialogue
- Words sound like white people Orientalising Chinese sayings
- Rushed story
- Does not give enough nuance to Mulan’s decision to leave or fight
- Mulan’s prodigal talents
- Gives off the impression that only with talent can you be better than other men
- Unnecessary shower scene
- Unnecessarily sexualises Mulan in attempt to remind audiences of her femininity
- Chose to reveal identity
- Defeats the message about the two hares – that while one is male and other is female, when they run together they are indistinguishable from the other
- “I believe Hua Mulan”
- Political reference aside, the men had not enough interaction to be impressed by Mulan and her honesty
- Xianniang
- Not enough backstory to empathise with her; sole purpose is to die for Mulan to live
- Jet Li and Donnie Yen under-utilised
- Neither of the actors well-known for their martial arts and wuxia roles did much to display their prowess
- Fireworks?
- You have fireworks for display, but not as weapons?
Beautifully shot, but no attempt in improving or complimenting the original poem or its themes.
1 / 5
Vignette Film 