The Assassin features female crusader as main character
On the surface, The Assassin might seem like the typical wuxia film, characteristic of martial art heroes. With beautiful displays of Chinese martial art and scenery, the film follows a female assassin, Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), who is ordered to kill Tian Ji’an (Chang Chen), Weibo’s corrupt military ruler to whom she was once betrothed. Though the film boasts beautifully choreographed fight sequences familiar to the wuxia genre, ultimately The Assassin is a story of Yinniang and her inner turmoil.
Directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the film has already garnered much critical praise. After it premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May, Hou won the award for Best Director. Now, The Assassin is Taiwan’s pick for their entry in the Best Foreign Film for the Academy Awards — with good reason, starting with the film’s innovative structure. With the beginning shot in black and white, a prologue explains Yinniang’s main motivations. She has to answer to the beck and call of a nun-princess who took her from her family when she was 10 years old. After extensive training, Yinniang’s fight skills are unmatched, and thus, she is tasked with killing corrupt government officials. For the most part, Yinniang is detached from her targets, which is shown by her lack of remorse when stealthily killing a man on horseback. However, when Yinniang is faced with a situation in which her target is shown to be a loving father, she relents and fails her mission. With invigorating cinematography, the prologue highlights Yinniang’s sensitive nature. When the rest of the film adopts color, it reveals less about Yinniang’s character. The dichotomy of this is brilliant.
The Assassin also boasts excellent performances by Shu and Chang. Shu’s stoic, female Robin Hood character conveys the most in what she doesn’t say. In a style that resembles Mrs. O’Brien in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, Yinniang’s lack of dialogue brings out the emotional weight she has to carry throughout the film. Chang, on the other hand, is the perfect counterpart to Yinniang’s contained character, actively expressing his volatile rage at his council, his wife and the downfall of the Tang dynasty.
Also adding to the success of the film is the percussive backdrop. To inject suspense into the scenes, viewers will find that the absence of a pervasive musical score moves the plotline along. Chinese drums accelerate as situations become more tense or as Yinniang closes in on her target. This element allows audiences to feel a gripping sense of Yinniang’s task.
Of course, with any wuxia film, the unspoken character is the elegant Chinese scenery. Captured expertly by Hou’s frequent collaborator, director of photography Mark Lee Ping Bing, the setting of The Assassin looks as if it comes from a classic Chinese painting. The shots are so beautiful that they rival modern wuxia classics such as Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Zhang Yimou’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The nature background contrasts the Tang dynasty’s fledging opulence and underscores the tense relationships between the kingdoms.
To portray the depraved environment in which Ji’an rules, many of the shots at his palace are shot behind a veil. This suggests that the relationships in the film are shrouded in mystery, especially that of Ji’an and Yinniang. This addition adds to the profundity of the film.
That being said, this doesn’t mean that The Assassin comes without faults. Yinniang isn’t the only character who speaks seldomly in the film. The scarcity of dialogue is a running theme for all the characters. This contributes to the film being hard to follow at times, as the actions of the characters imply their objectives. However, this characteristic is a stylistic choice of Hou, allowing Yinniang’s journey, the scenery and the pacing of the film to speak for itself.
Ultimately, The Assassin isn’t for those who are looking for senselessly violent fun. The film is composed of dimensional characters who are at war with themselves and majestic landscapes. Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s critically acclaimed film proves that he is a champion of the wuxia genre.