The Asssassin

Hou Hsiao Hsien has finally directed a wuxia genre film after an eight year hiatus with The Assassin (2015), a film that has gotten much critical praise. Hou won the Best Director at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival as well. It is a complex story set during the Tang dynasty in the 8th century starring Shu Q as the assassin and Chang Chen as her cousin formerly betrothed to her, and military governor, ruling the Weibo Circuit. To be honest I was content to just take in the gorgeous cinematography with exquisite framing, bold colors and patterns, as well as impressive location shots. There is certainly less action than your typical wuxia film, which is to be expected since Hou made his name on contemplative art films, but he has done a period film before, The Flowers of Shanghai, and that film like this one was meticulously researched so that the period being depicted was realistically depicted in the film. I suppose this is not for everyone, but it lived up to my expectations.