| Jade Warrior | |
| Director: | Antti-Jussi Annila |
| Producer: | Petri Jokiranta Tero Kaukomaa Margus Õunapuu Peter Loehr San Fu Maltha |
| Starring: | Tommi Eronen Zhang Jingchu Krista Kosonen Markku Peltola |
| Cinematography: | Henri Blomberg |
| Editing: | Iikka Hesse |
| Music: | Samuli Kosminen Kimmo Pohjonen |
| Distributor: | Blind Spot Pictures |
| Runtime: | 110 minutes |
| Country: | Finland China Estonia Netherlands |
| Language: | Finnish Mandarin |
Jade Warrior (Finnish: Jadesoturi,) is a Finnish-Chinese co-produced movie. It combines elements of the wuxia genre with Finnish Kalevala mythology.[1] It was directed by Antti-Jussi Annila.
The movie opened in Finland on 13 October 2006 with 40 copies. The film debuted at #2, right after The Devil Wears Prada. It opened in China on 24 October with 150 copies in 70 cities. Jade Warrior is the first Finnish movie to be released in movie theaters in China. In addition to China, the movie's international distribution rights have been sold to more than 30 countries.[2] In Finland, the movie grossed €607,038 with 79,050 tickets sold.[3]
In 2007, Jade Warrior received the Jussi Award for Best Costume Design (Anna Vilppunen) and Best Film Score (Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen).[4]
Inspired by the Finnish epic The Kalevala, the story opens with a down-on-his luck novice blacksmith named Kai whose girlfriend, Ronja, leaves him. Ronja tries to dispose of his collection of Asian artifacts and what appears to be an urn full of ashes at an antique dealer. The ashes are his burned up hair and nail clippings, used by blacksmiths to prevent rust. This sets off a mythical series of events that holds Ronja back from leaving town. The ashes open a mythical chest, which causes Kai to remember a past life where he was a half-Chinese half-Finnish warrior named Sintai, fated to battle a demon in ancient China, threatening to enslave all of humankind.
Sintai is fated to be rewarded with Nirvana upon dying in that lifetime if he killed the demon. Sintai is abetted—and then ultimately disheartened—by a female warrior named Pin Yu, who has captured his heart. Shortly after, Pin Yu unexpectedly finds her lost lover, Cho, who is Sintai's friend. Upon realizing this, Sintai uses a magical chest to imprison the demon and escape Nirvana. He then commits suicide to be reborn as Kai, who is being instructed by the now freed demon to build the Sampo, an item that will open the gates to hell. Kai's remembering and the sampo building are transposed to each other. Finally, Kai realizes what he has done and knows his complete past life and, with Pin Yu now reincarnated as Ronja and potentially returned to his side, he decides to fulfill his original quest and kill the demon.
The reception of the Jade Warrior was critical in China. Criticism of local newspapers criticized the film as difficult to understand: it moves both in Finland and China and even between different eras. In addition, the Chinese pronunciation of Finnish actors was not considered good, but rather ridiculous.[5]
| Jade Warrior | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | Various Artists |
| Recorded: | 2005–2006 |
| Genre: | Soundtrack |
| Label: | Bonnier Amigo Music Finland |
According to the MTV3 website, the soundtrack was released on 11 October 2006.[6]
| Title | Artist(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | "Fate" (movie version) | 4:22 | ||
| 02. | "Under the Rose" | 4:49 | ||
| 03. | "Romeo" | 4:03 | ||
| 04. | "Sorry Go 'Round" | 3:40 | ||
| 05. | "New Day" | Deep Insight | 3:38 | |
| 06. | "Scream" | Dame | 3:00 | |
| 07. | "Crossword" | Bleak | 3:40 | |
| 08. | "Days of Summer" | Ana Johnsson | 3:10 | |
| 09. | "Wear Out the Soles" | Brightboy | 2:57 | |
| 10. | "Grace" | 3:46 | ||
| 11. | "Savior" | Christel Sundberg | 4:22 | |
| 12. | "Routa" | |||
| 13. | "Unia" | Kimmo Pohjonen/Samuli Kosminen Kluster | ||
| 14. | "Kalvaja" | Kimmo Pohjonen/Samuli Kosminen Kluster | ||
| 15. | "Vala" | Kimmo Pohjonen/Samuli Kosminen Kluster |