Lu Yang follows up his 2010 Busan International Film Festival Audience Award-winning My Spectacular Theatre with this martial adventure. Set during the early years of the Ming Dynasty’s last Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, Brotherhood of Blades tells the story of three guards of the imperial military secret police, the Jinyiwei. Under the Emperor’s orders to arrest the cunning eunuch Wei, the Jinyiwei return with a badly burnt body instead, leaving them in a whirlwind of Court conspiracy. Wei, whom they thought was dead, turns up alive and Wei’s adopted son Zhao Jingzhong?the real power in the court?orders the three guards to be killed. The eldest of the group, Lu Jianxing is executed, and the youngest and former thief Jin Yichuan is murdered, leaving the second in line, Shen Lian, to take his revenge from Zhao, who has seized the Court under his rule. A straightforward martial arts epic that steps away from the trendy SF martial arts action style and focuses on realistic swordsmanship and the inner life of the main character. (KANG Naeyoung)