The Assassin – movie review

The patience of Job would be a great asset when setting out to watch this slow moving martial arts film with a young female protagonist.

Set in 9th century China (towards the end of the Tang Dynasty), Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), a general’s daughter, is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the art of combat. She is transformed into an exceptional assassin and charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. But she is deemed not ruthless enough and sent back to the land of her birth with orders to kill her cousin, who now leads the largest military region in the north of the country. After 13 years of exile this young lady must confront her parents, her memories and her long repressed feelings. A slave to the orders of her mistress, the nun, she has to choose between sacrificing her cousin (Chang Chen) – a man to whom she was promised – or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassin.

First up, I have no doubt that an understanding of Chinese history and literature would have been a plus upon entering the cinema for this one. You are never quite sure who is on whose side and who is fighting with whom, although the fight scenes are not prolific when you compare this offering to traditional martial arts pictures. The plot itself is hardly what I would call straightforward or easy to grasp.

There is much beauty in nature and in stunning flowing gowns worn in The Assassin, which has a lyrical and a mystical quality to it. There is also a great deal of attention to detail, from how to prepare a bath for a nobleman to the way people ate and dressed at the time, as well as the political complexities.

The Assassin opens in black and white, which represents the prologue or back story, before the title appears and the movie switches to colour. Both old TV format and widescreen are in use and moving from one to another certainly grated while I was watching.

Director Hou Hsiao-hsien prefers long shots to close ups as he tries to capture what is happening in and around the characters upon which he focuses. It takes quite some time, for instance, to get a good look at the assassin herself. There are many female characters in the story and the director professes to having more interest in the psyches of the so-called fairer sex … in this case though just as deadly, if not more so. The Assassin is far more focused upon the experiences had by the heroine than in what will eventually play out – in other words it is a “journey” film.

While many will no doubt be perplexed, some will delight in the cultural traditions, the reverence and inherent poetry of the screenplay. It has a decidedly beguiling quality to it.

Clearly though The Assassin is a film that will have only a select audience. Rated M, it scores a 7 out of 10.

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Cast: Shu Qui and Chang Chen
Release date: 5 November 2015 (limited)
Rating: PG

Alex First