"Nie Yinniang returns after several years in exile. The mission of her order is to eliminate the tyranny of the Governors who avoid the authority of the Emperor. Now she will have to choose between sacrificing the man she loves, or break definitively with the “Order of the Assassins."" Taiwan's official selection for the Oscars. Award winning Best Director and Soundtrack - Cannes Film Festival." - (Alert)
A female assassin, who was abducted as a child and trained in the martial arts, returns to her birthplace with orders to kill the man she was once supposed to marry. - (Baker & Taylor)
Back with his first film in 8 years, legendary Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien wowed this year's Cannes Film Festival (where he won Best Director) with his awe-inspiring THE ASSASSIN 刺客è¶隱娘 - a wondrous take on the traditional wuxia film. The story is simple, if elusive - in 9th-century China, Nie Yinniang is a young woman who was abducted in childhood from a decorated general and raised by a nun who trained her in the martial arts. After 13 years of exile, she is returned to the land of her birth as an exceptional assassin, with orders to kill her betrothed husband-to-be. She must confront her parents, her memories, and her long-repressed feelings in a choice to sacrifice the man she loves or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins. Rich with shimmering, breathing texture and punctuated by brief but unforgettable bursts of action, THE ASSASSIN 刺客è¶隱娘 is a martial arts film like none made before it. - (Well Go USA Inc)
Video Librarian Reviews
Chinese filmmaker Hou Hsiou-Hsien won the Best Director Award at Cannes for The Assassin, a reimagining of the martial arts drama as a vision of stillness, tension, and painterly beauty. Asian superstar Shu Qi plays Nie Yinniang, kidnapped as a child and trained by a cold-blooded nun to become an assassin for the Emperor, while Chen Chang costars as Tian Ji'an, Nie's target. Tian also happens to be her cousin, as well as the man to whom she was once betrothed. Needless to say, all of this carries emotional complications, which Nie hides behind her expressionless facial mask but betrays in her actions. Hou doesn't shoot the martial arts scenes in a conventional manner: the action arrives in pulses—sudden bursts of movement—while the battle scenes are brief, with images of individuals racing through tall grass or running through the underbrush given as much weight as the clash of swordsmen (and swordswomen). Viewers looking for a classic martial arts spectacle in the vein of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Ip Man may find this frustrating, but many will appreciate this unique cinematic experience. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2016.