Month: October 2020

Bingbing Fan, plays the witch, Jade Raksha

Jade’s love interest, Zhuo Yihang (Huang Xiaoming) is the grandson of Governor Zhuo Zhonglian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFnuFKdG1ok

(By clicking on the link above, you can view this film for free with a few breaks)

GOOD WITCHES #2:

The White Haired Witch

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

I was searching for a “good witch” film, but the choices were either too violent, too crude, too sexy, and none of the American witches seemed kind.

Please let me know if I missed one, but just when I was about to settle, a Chinese film pops up with the title, “The White Haired Witch.”

Apparently, in the Chinese culture, witches can protect the vulnerable. They are more like guardian angels.

In “White Haired Witch,” Bingbing Fan, who is the witch, Jade Raksha, is exquisitely beautiful, can play the flute, can handle a sword and is idealistic.

She fights the soldiers, who oppress the people for their own gain.

Jade’s love interest, Zhuo Yihang (Huang Xiaoming), is the grandson of Governor Zhuo Zhonglian, who is murdered by traitorous local government officials.

This story is about loyalty, honor and true love.

And, without giving too much away, her hair turns white at the film’s climax, which dramatizes the seriousness of what occurs.

The women in this film are mature and fair in their assessments of love.

They do not feel that love can be competed for, ordered or forced.

They believe that words and actions have consequences and that truth matters in love.

Actions and sincerity matter in love.

And, they believe that one cannot be faulted for loving.

As a romantic, I was personally moved by parts of this film.

The writer, Yusheng Liang, also a poet, has the spirit of Jade’s mother appear to her for counsel at one point.

The spirit of her mother tells her that if she uses all her powers, she would not need to be rescued.

The relationships of fathers and daughters are also on display in this film.

One father allows himself to become a eunuch for his daughter; another father tells his daughter to light a lantern for him, if he does not return.

When Zhuo Yihang is introduced, he is part of a team being tested on top of a rock that is balanced above the water.

In the test, he allows himself to be sacrificed, so that his team advances.

In the Master’s evaluation, Zhuo is offered the leadership position, because he demonstrated sacrifice for the greater good.

Jade begins to love him, when he demonstrates that he is not heartless.

Zhuo grows into her assessment of him by the film’s end.

Witch, Jade Raksha, plays the flute.

The White Haired Witch:

Theatrical Release Date: China, 2014
Director: Zhang Zhiliang
Writer: Yusheng Liang
Cast: Bingbing Fan, Xiaoming Huang, Li Xinru, Wenzhuo Zhao

BluRay released: March 10th, 2015
Approximate running time: 104 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 Mandarin, Dolby Digital Stereo Mandarin
Subtitles: English
BluRay Release: Well Go USA
Region Coding: Region A

(White Haired Witch is an adaption of Liang Yusheng’s wuxia novel titled ‘Baifa Monü Zhuan’ and it’s literal English translation of it title is ‘Story of the White Haired Demoness’. Previous film adaptions include Story of the White-haired Demon Girl (1959), White Hair Devil Lady (1980) and The Bride with White Hair and its squeal The Bride with White Hair 2, both were released in 1993.)

Witch, Jade Raksha, transforms her appearance.

Wiki of writer Liang Yusheng:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Yusheng

Wiki of actress Fan Bingbing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_Bingbing

Wiki of actor Huang Ziaoming:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Xiaoming

This story is about loyalty, honor and true love.

10/25/2020 # The White Haired Witch

Dr. Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) learns how to light a candle with her finger.

GOOD WITCHES: # 1: “A Discovery of Witches” 2018

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

I am not a fan of horror films, especially during the fire/pandemic/election season, which Halloween has become, but I wanted to honor All Saints’ Eve in a positive way.

So, while browsing the video racks, a title caught my eye, “A Discovery of Witches,” containing two DVDs.

I decided that I could review films about “good witches.”

Turns out, “A Discovery of Witches” is a 2018 BBC America television series, Season 1, about a witch, Dr. Diana Bishop, who is resisting the discovery of her witch birthright.

Diana (Teresa Palmer) is a tenured historian at Yale, studying alchemy and science at Oxford, who happens to be a powerful witch, unbeknownst to her.

Diana is brilliant, ambitious and achieves her academic position by her own merit.

She is self-made, before she starts using her witch powers.

Why do women represented in film have to have special powers or be a witch, in order to have achieved something?

Diana also has strong female support, not only in academia, but she was raised by her aunt, Sarah Bishop (Alex Kingston), who has a lesbian partner, Emily Mather (Valarie Pettiford).

Both Diana’s aunt and partner are witches.

Diana was raised in a spell protected country home in the United States.

Because of these circumstances, Diana holds the belief that she should be able to love, whomever she loves, regardless of social norm.

The story also brings up the question of what should be the next, evolutionary step for witches, vampires and demons.

Diana’s love interest, Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode), is a geneticist, a vampire and a Professor of Biochemistry, who has been tracking the decline in the vampire specie.

Season 1 is a treasure of witch possibilities, which Diana discovers she cannot evade.

Magic keeps happening for her, whenever her need is great.

And, she fits the description of being a good witch.

In Season 1, she is forced to embrace her witch power, if not perfectly.

In her research, a book finds her.

It is a bewitched manuscript in the Bodleian library.

This is the very book, which other witches, vampires and demons have been seeking for centuries.

The time span of Season 1 is about 40 days, in which Diana finds love with a handsome vampire (Matthew Goode), uncovers the secret of her parent’s death, and learns a few of her witch powers along the way.

She also comes to realize that her mother and father are just on the other side of the veil, looking out for her.

Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, and at the end of Season 1, Diana is escaping the bad witches and is about to take a leap into another century.

This film was just what I was looking for and definitely honors All Saints’ Eve.

Season 2 was interrupted by the Covid 19 outbreak.

My understanding is that Season 2, which was filmed just before Covid 19 happened, will air sometime in 2021.

Deborah Harkness is the author of “All Souls Trilogy,” upon which this series is based, so it has a female viewpoint.

I will be watching.

Vampire Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode)and reluctant witch, Dr. Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer)

Cast and characters[edit]

Main[edit]

Teresa Palmer as Diana Bishop, DPhil., a witch and tenured historian at Yale studying alchemy and science at Oxford^[2]
Matthew Goode as Matthew Clairmont, a vampire and Professor of Biochemistry^[2]
Edward Bluemel as Marcus Whitmore, Matthew Clairmont’s vampire son and lab colleague^[2]
Louise Brealey as Gillian Chamberlain, a fellow witch and academic alongside Diana at Oxford^[3]
Malin Buska as Satu Järvinen, a Finnish witch and a Congregation member^[4]
Aiysha Hart as Miriam Shephard, vampire and Matthew’s scientific colleague in Oxford^[3]
Owen Teale as Peter Knox, a high-ranking witch and a member of the Congregation^[3]
Alex Kingston as Sarah Bishop, Diana’s aunt^[2]
Valarie Pettiford as Emily Mather, Sarah’s partner^[2]
Trevor Eve as Gerbert d’Aurillac, an ancient vampire and a Congregation member^[5]
Lindsay Duncan as Ysabeau de Clermont, mother of Matthew Clairmont and wife of Philippe de Clermont^[2]