The Assassin
Description
To open the sixth installment of Taiwan Film Days, we are proud to present one of the most heralded films of 2015—winner of the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival—master filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin. Set in ninth-century China, the film centers on Nie Yinniang (played by smoldering Shu Qi) a female killer appointed to slay corrupt government officials by her master, Jiaxin, a nun who raised her from the age of ten. When Yinniang displays mercy by failing to kill during her duties, Jiaxing punishes her with a ruthless assignment designed to test Yinniang’s resolve. Director Hou’s highly anticipated epic has been seven years in the making and represents a departure in his oeuvre. Known for contemplative, humanist dramas infused with the presence of history, director Hou’s meticulous style looms over Taiwanese New Cinema and has influenced a generation of art filmmakers the world over. Cinephiles who have wondered how Hou would tackle the martial arts genre will be delightfully greeted with Mark Lee Ping Bing’s ravishing cinematography and fight sequences that highlight the debatable morality in Yinniang’s vocation rather than only glorifying the violence in her estimable badassery. This is a not-to-be-missed event for all film lovers.
Biographies
One of the leading figures of the Taiwanese New Cinema movement that began in 1980s, Hou Hsiao-hsien has written and directed more than 20 feature-length films and is considered one of the most influential filmmakers of our time. Voted as the “director of the decade” for the 1990s by a body of international film critics in a poll conducted by the Village Voice and Film Comment, Hou is know for his contemplative naturalistic style, employing long takes and slow camera movements. Hou frequently collaborates with renowned cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing, who shot The Assassin, and the celebrated author Chu Tien-wen, co-writer of the film.