The Forbidden City: Kung Fu in Rome

In 1990s “One Child” China, being the second daughter was no kind of life. Xiao Mei grew up in hiding, with only her Kung Fu lessons to pass the time. Consequently, she learned the heck out of her martial arts. Therefore, when her older, on-the-books sister Yun goes missing in Rome, Mei comes looking for her and she isn’t asking nicely in Gabriele Mainetti’s The Forbidden City, which releases today on digital.

Basically, Mei had the same human traffickers smuggle her to Rome hoping she would end up in the same place as her sister. However, Mei will not be as compliant about accepting indentured sex work. She quickly plows through half a dozen henchmen who seriously misunderestimate her. However, no matter how many heads she bashes, she can’t find Yun.

Poor Marcello gets some too, even though he is just a cook in his family’s restaurant. Apparently, his father absconded with Yun, but he knows nothing about it. His restaurant doesn’t cater to Mr. Wang’s triads, who trafficked both sisters into Rome. However, their clientele includes Annibale, an old school neighborhood mafia captain, who has befriended the family (and carries a torch for Marcello’s melodramatic mom—she is Italian, after all).

Eventually, Mei and Marcello start working together to find and/or avenge her sister and his father. That maybe overstates his active involvement, but he certainly runs considerable risks. The space between the Triad and the Mafia is pretty dangerous at the best of times, and particularly so when Mei kicks up trouble.

Anyone who has seen Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon knows Rome has been the location for at least one classic martial arts film already. Forbidden City is not quite at that level, but it isn’t for a lack of trying.

Yaxi Liu, who served as Liu Yifei’s body double on Disney’s disastrous live action Mulan—the one that was filmed in the midst of the Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang—does not lack for talent either. She has serious chops. There are some wildly over-the-top fight sequences. However, Mainetti never presents her as an invulnerable super-heroine. She takes several savage beatings during the course of her massively physical performance.

Marco Giallini is wonderfully sad and sinister as old Annibale, while Chunyu Shanshan throws down quite credibly, especially for an ever so slightly older dude, as Mr. Wang. Plus, Mainetti and co-screenwriters Stefano Bises and Davide Serino incorporate the legacy of China’s One Child Policy in intelligent and aptly tragic ways. The Rome-by-night scenery is also nice, but the fight choreography and stunt work are what will generate fan word-of-mouth—for good reason. Enthusiastically recommended for martial arts fans, The Forbidden City releases today (2/17) on digital.