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Nie Yin Niang
The Assassin
Taiwan / Hong Kong / China / France 2015
produced by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Huang Wen-Ying, Liao Ching-Song, Chen Yi-Qi (executive), Gou Tai-Chiang (executive), Peter Lam (executive), Lin Kuen (executive), Tung Tzu-Hsien for Central Motion Pictures, China Dream, Media Asia, Sil-Metropole Organisation, SpotFilms, Zhejiang Huace Film & TV
directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien
starring Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Zhou Yun, Chang Shao-Huai, Nikki Hsin-Ying Hsieh, Ethan Juan, Yu Lei Zhen, Mei Fang, Ni Dahong, Jacques Picoux, Sheu Fang-yi, Yong Mei, Shih Chun
screenplay by Ah Cheng, Chu T'ien-Wen, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Hsieh Hai-Meng, , based on the short story by Pei Xing, music by Lim Giong
review by Mike Haberfelner
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China, time of the Tang dynasty: Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) has been trained
as an assassin for years now and has killed many a man - but then she
fails to kill a gouvernment official because he hides behind a child,
apparently because children are sacred to her or she is reminded of her
own lost childhood. So her mentor figures her heart is not in it and sends
her back to the court of her family, where she is to kill Tian (Chang
Chen), the man she was once promised to ... but she soon gets caught up in
the intrigues happening in the court, and though a most skillful fighter,
she might end up a mere pawn in a grander scheme ... Called the
first martial arts movie by Taiwanese living legend, director Hou
Hsiao-Hsien, a man certainly not known for spectacle cinema, Nie Yin
Niang is for sure a movie that follows its own rules and delivers
wonderful locations, beautiful costumes and props, and lingers over the
beauty of everything ... but frankly, it's not very good as moving its
story along, as the actual narrative remains rather fragmented and too
much is left for the audience to guess, the characters lack depth, and
some of the movie feels awefully clichéed. Now true, this can be said of
most period martial arts films, but that's why they usually move fast and
make up for their shortcomings with lavish fight scenes. And it has to be
said here, the fight scenes in Nie Yin Niang are competently
staged, but usually over in a manner of seconds, leaving most of the
film's 100+ minutes to meditative musings. And sure, one might admire the
film for the beauty of everything - but as a genre film (that it claims to
be) or a narrative movie as such, it falls a bit short.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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