The Other (Better) Mulan Movie that Came Out This Year
Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on this story…thankfully!
There is actually more than one film based on The Ballad of Mulan that was released in 2020. Most of them being made by Chinese film companies. Two of the films seem to have a lot of similarities here in the West to the point where it’s actually hard to differentiate and distinguish one version from the other. The films being Unparalleled Mulan released in April 2020 directed by Yi Lin and the other being Matchless Mulan released in May 2020 directed by Chen Cheng. That confusion is because the market of Chinese cinema in America is pretty small, most Americans in general don’t fancy watching movies in languages other than English.
Even popular foreign directors like Bong Joon-ho and Guillermo Del Toro didn’t become noticed widely by general audiences in the West until they started making films that were at least partially in English (Snowpiercer and Blade II respectively). And most of what became known about Chinese cinema particularly in America past the age of Bruce Lee’s film dominance was mostly jokes about poor English dubbing that never matched the lips and it’s on influence the action scenes in The Matrix movies.
The other confusing aspect is the English names of the films aren’t completely accurate. Sites like Letterboxd and other western film hubs refer to the Yi Lin film as Unparalleled Mulan but a more literal translation of the original title would be more akin to “Mulan Heroine” (thanks Google Translate) which somehow sounds even clunkier as a title. Also, Matchless Mulan has been referred to as Unparalleled Mulan as well and is what the title card in the film reads.
So yeah, it is a bit confusing. But to make it clear, the movie I watched that all this preamble has been setting up is the Mulan film directed by Chen Cheng.
Chinese cinema is super cool. It had a big niche pop off in the 60s and 70s over here in the West thanks to the overwhelming popularity of Bruce Lee and the crazy action found in most Chinese blockbusters.
However, my knowledge about Chinese cinema can be described as passing at best. Besides this film, I’ve only seen a handful of Chinese films and know more about them from a historical and cultural standpoint than actually watching them. In regards to foreign films, I tended to be drawn in more by Mexican, Irish, and Japanese cinema.
Not to say that those are better than Chinese films, all cultural and national cinema are equally valid. Unless it’s the old KKK, Nazi, and Communist Russia propaganda that persisted forever. I don’t think saying those are bad is particularly controversial, I think everyone can get on board with that.
Sorry, I’m getting side-tracked.
All of that is to say that one of the most engaging aspects of Cheng’s Mulan feature is the ones that wholeheartedly embrace what makes Chinese blockbuster cinema distinct from movies made anywhere else.
Despite the language barrier and the so-so translation in the subtitles making portions of the plot a little hard to follow, I still had an absolute riot watching this film.
The film embraces all the elements of popular Chinese blockbusters. Wirework stunts, violence, an irreverent tone that never takes itself too seriously, and an erratic editing style that will absolutely cut tension for a good joke in a way that’s very different than when Hollywood films cut the tension with humor.
In fact, if I had to pick one word to describe my experience watching this film it would be “fun”.
And that’s not in the demeaning “turn your brain off” way either, it was just a legitimately good time. Not to mention super visually pleasing.
Most of the discourse I have seen around this movie have all been from American’s claiming it to be a cheap cash grab to capitalize on the Disney remake. Or calling this version bad because, in the poster's words, the Chinese movie-going audience has bad taste. Which is a ridiculous thing to say.
Matchless Mulan will not be for everyone, nor will it be for most American viewers. Movies made in other cultures and settings won’t ever always translate 100% to others. Chinese films mostly don’t follow traditional Hollywood storytelling and that is not a good or bad statement. It’s a neutral statement. But it does mean that it would probably turn off general American moviegoers because it is so different.
Also, a lot of those assertions are just a blatant ignoring of history. While I’m sure there are so many Mulan movies this year partially to capitalize on the Disney remake, that’s ignoring that there’s a bunch of Mulan adaptations, in general, all the time. Chinese filmmakers often make this story as a film because it’s so closely tied to the culture and history of China. And I’m sure another reason so many versions of Mulan released this year is that Chinese filmmakers wanted to give the middle finger to Disney.
They probably wanted to remind Disney this story is theirs and it’s not owned by some multi-billion dollar company on the other side of the world.
Mulan as a character has been around almost as long as Jesus. She’s from an old song/poem that was passed around through spoken word as early as the 400s AD. And then it was officially written and documented a couple of hundred years after that.
Mulan may just be a Disney movie here in America but in China, it’s an ever-present story that gets adapted in several different ways with new takes on the story all the time.
The Disney movie basically just monopolized the story in the West as a spunky princess musical. But in China, it gets more takes on Mulan than Americans get of all those Robin Hood movies that come out like clockwork every few years.
What Matchless Mulan adds to the story is a sense of camaraderie. These movies take on the character is that she’s a determined badass, but in general, she’s about the same skill level as an average soldier. Which is in stark contrast to the Disney remake that made Mulan bland and stoic, and also basically a Jedi. She’s a chosen one in that Disney remake and it was such a letdown.
The other thing that Matchless Mulan does that solves a big problem the Disney remake had was giving her someone to chat with.
The original Disney movie added the character of Mushu to chill with Mulan and talk to her about the problems she’s experiencing. That was cut in the remake and it left a hole in it that made the plot stiffer.
In Matchless Mulan, she actually joins the army with other men in the village. Some of them get along with her, others don’t. But all of them are forced to help Mulan keep her secret because if it gets out, they’ll be reprimanded with her.
It creates this great dynamic of personal friends and enemies having to reluctantly team up with her to keep the ruse going.
It’s fun. And ultimately they do all become buddies and their friendship really helps carry the movie.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie is following a victory in battle, Mulan and her fellow soldiers go back to the barracks to drink and celebrate. During the celebration Mulan gets drunk and sloppily tells her General that she was “originally a woman” and her friends have to help her and tell the General he can’t handle his liquor and is just being dumb. The reactions and comedic timing are priceless, describing it really doesn’t give it justice. But it’s one of my favorite scenes in any adaptation of the story. It makes her feel much more human.
Following this really fun comedy scene, one of the villains of the movie uses magic to infest the barracks with mice and rats, which destroy everything.
Now, this infestation is not something from the original story nor have I seen anything similar in other adaptations. My interpretation of it is that this was included as a major plot beat as symbolism to show how Disney (represented by the same species as their mascot) took Mulan and made her a Disney branded property, therefore destroying its roots. If that was intentional. I gotta say. Well played.
The action in Matchless Mulan is also top-notch. It doesn’t follow realistic physics or rules, but no good martial arts fighting movie should. The action is so entertaining and energetic it actually makes the Disney remake look even worse.
I was very middle of the road on the Disney remake. But I thought the standout of the film was the direction and well-shot action. But compared to Matchless Mulan it just felt watered down. This is why I personally feel like Matchless Mulan makes the Disney remake completely irrelevant.
Especially since that remake took away all the things that made the Disney original special. No musical numbers, they made the tone way too serious, they turned Mulan into a chi controlling superhero instead of just being a talented soldier, and there was practically no comedic relief.
Meanwhile, Matchless Mulan was kinetic, engaging, great characters, fun comedy that didn’t take away from the serious action, and was overall just an excellent package.
As I said, Matchless Mulan won’t be for everyone, but sincerely if the Disney remake left you underwhelmed or any of this just sounds up your alley in general, I think it’s worth giving a shot.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
