The Assassin
Directed by: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Written by: Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Chu Tien-Wen, Hsieh Hai-Meng, Zhong Acheng
Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yu, Tsumabuki Satoshi
Action/Drama - 107 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 29 Oct 2015
Written by: Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Chu Tien-Wen, Hsieh Hai-Meng, Zhong Acheng
Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yu, Tsumabuki Satoshi
Action/Drama - 107 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 29 Oct 2015
The Assassin’s plot outline remains just that, an outline, a shell remaining mostly empty stuffed full of visuals but refusing to delve into anything as earthly as story. A written prologue explains we are in the 9th century Tang Dynasty when provinces are rebelling against the central Imperial government. A female assassin, sent away young, returns home on assignment to kill the provincial governor, the man she was betrothed to before palace intrigue necessitated her exile. An assassin with a heart of gold, balancing work vs. love, The Assassin is an opportunity for a certain cinephile sect to relish color-saturated art direction and ignore narrative, because trying to understand any of it is futile.
Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien won Best Director for The Assassin at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. News Hsaio-Hsien made a traditional Chinese wuxia “martial arts” film excited both fans of the man and the genre. However, this is no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers version of fighting featuring extended scenes of graceful, gravity-defying swordplay.
Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien won Best Director for The Assassin at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. News Hsaio-Hsien made a traditional Chinese wuxia “martial arts” film excited both fans of the man and the genre. However, this is no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers version of fighting featuring extended scenes of graceful, gravity-defying swordplay.
The Assassin is a lesson in expectation management. All of the few fights scenes are brief and many only contain two or three knife thrusts. The world’s most skilled assassin shouldn’t be drawn into extensive combat anyways. Her stealth and speed ensures the fight is over before the victim knows their throat is open to the outside world, unless the assassin wants the victim to live; therefore, their fight is more message than menace.
Sent away young, Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) returns after many years in exile trained as perhaps the world’s most lethal assassin. Her master, however, aware of her student’s skills, realizes she lacks the requisite cold blood to truly dispatch her targets with efficiency. Tasked to slice and dice a local Governor, Nie refuses to kill the man at the moment of attack when she sees him cradling his young son…very Bourne Identity of her. For penance and to prove her mettle, the master sends Nie back to her home province to kill the Governor.
With such limited dialogue, it’s surprising how challenging it is to understand what the heck is going on in The Assassin. Nie must kill the Governor, who is also her cousin, who she also was supposed to marry a long time ago. The Governor has a mistress, a scheming wife, and there is a mysterious wizard adept at voodoo, all plot points I did not figure out until the last 20 minutes. Another assassin shows up to take on Nie and it may or may not be her master; I honestly have no idea. Neither will you.
Yet, Hsaio-Hsien is known for not placing plot and narrative front and center. He wants to audience to sit back and watch. We’re to admire the birch forest, the rooms clad in sheer fabric rustling in the wind, the same sound we hear when Nie decides to show herself. When it comes to wuxia, give me Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon over The Assassin, but I understand the appeal of the more contemplative version. Much has been written in the film world about eating your cinematic vegetables; I believe this is the broccoli casserole of the martial arts genre.
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