You know a film must be a huge deal when it’s up for the Palme d’Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. Events are set to kick-off this Wednesday as pre-sales are already underway as they have been for a flourishing number of titles, specifically Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien‘s long-awaited wuxia drama production, The Assassin.
9th century China. 10-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. Oneday, 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 leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings. A slave to the orders of her mistress, Nie Yinniang must choose: sacrifice the man she loves or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins.
Stay tuned for more info…and hopefully some footage to spare as well!