The Assassin: the film Hou Hsiao-hsien wanted to make since he was a boy
Taiwanese auteur made film adaptation of a 9th century classical Chinese story 'because I like it'. It's a typically allusive Hou movie, and he admits it might not make much money
On the face of it, The Assassin, Hou Hsiao-hsien's prize-winning foray into wuxia fantasy, might seem out of character for the Taiwanese filmmaker. The 68-year-old is known as an insightful interpreter of Taiwan's turbulent contemporary history, whose social-realist dramas are distinguished by their distant visual style and languorous pacing.
As a boy, Hou was addicted to the wuxia novels that have enthralled generations with tales of chivalrous derring-do by ancient warriors with superhuman abilities. When he became a filmmaker, he dreamed of tackling the genre, and finally realised his vision with The Assassin.
"I made this film simply because I like it," says Hou.
Attending last month's Hong Kong Book Fair after winning the best director prize for The Assassin at the Cannes Film Festival, he was given a hero's welcome.
The film had been decades in the making. First mooted in the late 1980s, it is loosely based on Nie Yinniang, a Tang dynasty short story Hou had read in its original classical Chinese text in his university days. The film follows the titular character (played by a nearly silent Shu Qi) as she struggles with her choices after being ordered to kill a provincial governor (Chang Chen), who turns out to be a former childhood love.
Despite its occasional use of impenetrable classical dialogue and an abstruse storyline, the period drama is such an enchanting sensory experience - thanks in large part to the mesmerising imagery from Hou's long-time cinematographer, Mark Lee Ping-bin - bemused viewers might feel obliged to surrender to the allure of its sights and sounds.