So, Sackalick is in my city. Now she can give wussy reviews from Toronto, too.

I would really appreciate it if you would go and see “Jade Warrior” (Country: Finland/China/Estonia/The Netherlands – just this fact is enough to get me to go see it) for me and let me know how it is. I’m only going up there for two days (on my own dime) and this is the one movie that I really want to see but doesn’t fit in to my very limited schedule.

How perfect does this sound:

Jade Warrior is an often bizarre, bracing and wildly successful admixture of a traditional Chinese martial-arts film - think King Hu - and laconic Finnish auteur cinema. Although it swings wildly through time and geography, the film nails its central conceits so perfectly that it feels entirely natural for a contemporary Finn to be fighting an ancient demon in medieval China.

The film was inspired by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, a text that bears remarkable similarities to the mythologies of ancient China. A sad-sack, part-time ironmonger (Tommi Eronen) has been abandoned by his girlfriend (Krista Kosonen). When she tries to dump his collection of Asian knick-knacks at a local chinoiserie antique dealer, she sets off a chain of events that implicates them in a mythical history. The ironmonger turns out to be a majestic prince, destined to fight the last of the great demons, an unnameable force that keeps human beings in bondage. But his major strength - and weakness - is a woman: a beautiful, inspiring swordswoman (Zhang Jing-chu) who is destined to betray him. Magic boxes, sensational swordplay and fantastical happenings converge simultaneously on a rural house outside Helsinki and in the misty mountains of remote China until the truth about a puzzling contemporary archaeological find is at last revealed.

Like any martial-arts epic, Jade Warrior insists that you pay attention, as events occur quickly, with the astonishing fighting carrying the narrative along at a fast pace.

Young director Antti-Jussi Annila has seamlessly meshed his expressive Finnish actors - especially the wonderful Eronen as the ironmonger - with more taciturn Chinese stars. His understanding of the medium is faultless. And he also reveals several surprising lessons regarding the history of European migration when you least expect them. Finland, it turns out, is closer to the centre of Asia than we ever imagined.

This is the first ever Sino-Finnish co-production. Judging by Jade Warrior's success, we should hope for many more.

- Noah Cowan

One of these years I really need to go up for a week…

Thanks

i am a big fan of yours from the philippines. i think your reviews are as delicious as the films that you rave about. i am not alone. so is a friend of mine. so, we sre really hoping you'd get to watch the bet collector by jeff jeturian. it's scheduled on 10 sept.,9:00 am at cumberland 1. to date, it has already won two international critics' prizes. i hope that's enough to make you watch it.