The Assassin (2015)

刺客聂隐娘

Winner of Best Director at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, The Assassin reimagines the action genre through radical restraint and visual precision. Set during the waning years of the Tang dynasty, the film follows Nie Yinniang, a trained assassin tasked with killing a powerful regional leader bound to her by family ties. Hou replaces spectacle with stillness, framing violence as absence rather than action. Through meticulous composition and sound design, The Assassin transforms historical legend into a meditation on power, loyalty and moral hesitation.

Rating

PG

Duration

105 min

Country

Taiwan, Hong Kong, China

Language

Mandarin

Cast

Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Yun Zhou

Director

Hsiao-Hsien Hou

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