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The Assassin
TAIWAN · 2015

The Assassin

Hou Hsiao-hsien
female assassin martial arts political corruption family duty vs personal identity 9th century China
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Synopsis

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now lea

Cinema Atlas Connection
Jenkins replied that he watched [The Assassin] with his cinematographer James Laxton, and they studied how Hou would break a scene into four or five different shots. The director was particularly fascinated by the way Hou used foregrounds and midgrounds to create depth and frame characters.

He cites the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, Theo Angelopoulos, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien as influences, particularly praising Hou's 2015 masterpiece, 'The Assassin.'

— Bi Gan  ·  IndieWire
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